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U.S. terminates patent application proceedings for fraudulent use of signature
By Ferraiuoli LLC
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a final order terminating proceedings in roughly 3,100 patent applications for the fraudulent entry of the S-signature of a registered practitioner by someone other than the practitioner.
Under the patent rules (37 CFR 1.4), signatures on papers submitted to the USPTO must be personally inserted by the named signatory, and the USPTO may require evidence of the authenticity of a signature. Submission of papers for any improper purpose, such as to deceive the USPTO or evade the rules, may result in sanctions (37 CFR 11.18).
In October 2022, the USPTO contacted a practitioner whose signature appeared on a large number of micro entity certification forms received by the agency. Upon further investigation, with the cooperation of the practitioner, it was discovered that the signature of the practitioner was being used by another person.
Due to the improper use of a practitioner’s signature, the submission of papers for improper purposes, and the violation of the duty of candor and good faith, the USPTO has issued a final order terminating proceedings in the applications in which this conduct occurred.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.