The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) invites your school to participate in the 2021 National Patent Application Drafting Competition. Registration remains open until November 7th, 2020, with availability in each of five regions.

The objective of this competition is to introduce law students to issues arising in United States patent law and to develop their patent application drafting, amending, and prosecution skills.

Student teams will be given a hypothetical invention statement for which they will then search the prior art, prepare a specification, draft claims, and present their reasoning for patentability before a panel of judges comprised of patent examiners, practitioners, and high profile guest judges.

The initial phase of competition will consist of up to 15 teams competing in a virtual regional round. The winner from each regional round will be invited to compete in the National Final Competition before a panel of senior USPTO officials and other esteemed judges at USPTO Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, in April 2021.KEY DATES

October 1, 2020 – Team registration opens

November 7, 2020 – Team registration closes

November 13, 2020 – Team invitations sent

November 16, 2020 – Invention statement released to teams

February 8, 2021 – Deadline to submit team patent application

March 6, 2021 – Virtual Regional Rounds – Regional Winners announced

March 21, 2021 – Deadline to submit National Finals team patent application

April 2021 – National Finals competition

Regional hosts

• Detroit: Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional USPTO

• Dallas: Texas Regional USPTO

• San Jose: Silicon Valley Regional USPTO

• Denver: Rocky Mountain Regional USPTO

• Alexandria: Eastern Regional USPTO

Please visit the USPTO website for the 2020 finalists and competition results.

If you have any questions, please contact PatentDraftingCompetition@USPTO.gov .

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