Legal Question in Intellectual Property in South Carolina
My patent attorney did not inform me of USPTO of OFFICE ACTION so my patent was
I hired a patent attorney to handle my patent application. She would not contact me or respond to numerous attempts to contact her. My patent application was denied because she failed to respond or notify me to respond to an Office Action that had a 30 day time period. She still will not respond to me at all.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: My patent attorney did not inform me of USPTO of OFFICE ACTION so my patent
Every attorney has an ethical duty to maintain communications with his/her clients. Failure to do so is a breach of Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct. Obviously, if your attorney's failure to contact you actually caused you to suffer an economic harm such as the loss of a valuable patent application, that could be actionable -- though, I would need much more information to evalute this for you. Please feel free to contact me directly if you would like to explore this further. I would be happy to chat with you.
Lawrence R. Holzman, Esquire
Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A.
6404 Ivy Lane, Suite 400
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 220-2200
fax (301) 220-1214
Disclaimer: Please note that the posting of this response is not intended to constitute legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain information applicable to your situation. This posting is not confidential or privileged and does not create an attorney/client relationship.