Patent Law Practice Center

PTO Proposes New Ethics Rules Based on ABA Model Rules

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is proposing new rules that would align the USPTO’s professional responsibility rules with those of most other U.S. jurisdictions.  The proposal, which comes in the form of a notice of proposed rulemaking, seeks to replace the current Patent and Trademark Office Code of Professional Responsibility with new USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, which are based on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct of the ABA, which were published in 1983, substantially revised in 2003 and updated through 2011.  The current USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, adopted in 1985, were themselves based on the 1980 version of the Model Code of Professional Responsibility of the American Bar Association (“ABA”).

Also included in the proposed rulemaking are attempts by the Office to revise the existing procedural rules governing disciplinary investigations and proceedings.

The proposed USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct do not wholesale copy the ABA Model Rules.  The USPTO is not proposing the implementation of certain provisions of the ABA Model Rules that are inapplicable to patent practice. For example, the ABA Model Rules set forth specific provisions concerning domestic relations or criminal practice, which do not appear in the proposed USPTO Rules of Professional Responsibility.

(more…)