Model Patent Prosecution Templates

AIPLA's Patent Law Committee maintains a collection of sample documents related to day-to-day patent prosecution.  These documents are exemplary and may not be ideal for every situation. Use them at your own risk.*

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Model Response Shells:

Each of these documents contains a comprehensive shell document that can be used to formulate a response to 35 U.S.C. 112, 102, 103, or 101 rejections made by a patent examiner during prosecution.
  • 112 Response Shell (Doc) (PDF)


Model Appeal Brief (updated 3/2026): (Doc)  (PDF)

This document contains the overall structure of appeal brief with a section for drafting responses to point out error in rejections made in 35 U.S.C. 112, 102, 103, 101, and obviousness-type double patenting rejections.  The model appeal brief includes summaries of the relevant portions of the PTAB’s designated informative and precedential decisions applicable to ex parte appeals along with associated Federal Circuit case law.


Model Reply Brief(updated 3/2026): (Doc)  (PDF)

This document contains the overall structure of a reply brief along with relevant case law summaries to use for handling new grounds of rejection in an Examiner’s Answer. 

 

*Nothing included in these sample documents or elsewhere on this site should be considered legal advise on the part of AIPLA or any of its members.

Location

Texas A&M Law Center

Fort Worth, TX

Contact

Credits

CLE Pending

Registration

Fee: See below

Register Now

The AIPLA Trade Secret Summit is the leading trade secret conference in the nation, with speakers from across the spectrum of private practitioners, in-house counsel, government, and academia, as well as fantastic networking opportunities.


Registration Rates

AIPLA Regular and other Member Rate: $495
AIPLA Solo/Small Firm Member Rate: $395
AIPLA In-House Counsel $399 (special form required for non-member in-house counsel)
AIPLA Junior/Government/IP Paralegal-Tech Advisor Member Rate: $199
AIPLA Student/Academic/Judicial Member Rate: $55
Non-Member Rate: $895

 

 

Agenda

 

Thursday, April 23

8:00 - 8:45 AM - Breakfast
8:45 - 9:00 AM - Welcome & Intros
9:00 - 10:00 AM - Trade Secrets in Texas
10:00 - 11:00 AM - Industry Panel: Trade Secrets in Financial Services
11:00 - 11:15 AM - Break
11:15 - 12:30 PM - Government Enforcement and Legislation of Noncompetes
12:30 - 1:30 PM - Lunch
1:30 - 2:30 - Trade Secrets Damages: Latest Trend of Large Verdicts Being Set Aside and Apportionment
2:30 - 3:30 PM - Back to School: Professor Panel
3:45 - 4:45 PM - Combination Trade Secrets

Friday, April 24

8:30 - 9:00 AM - Breakfast
9:00 - 10:00 AM - How Forensics Can Make a Difference in Your Trade Secrets Litigation
10:00 - 11:00 AM - AI and Trade Secrets
11:00 - 11:15 AM - Break
11:15 - 12:15 PM - Trade Secrets Defenses: Generally Known or Readily Ascertainable
12:15 - 12:30 - Close

 

Hotel Details

Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown Hotel
1701 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 76102

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR ROOM

Single/Double Standard Room Rate:
$229 per night, plus applicable taxes (currently 19.34%)

Reservation Cut-Off Date:
March 31, 2026

Cancellation Policy:
Reservations must be canceled at least 48 hours prior to arrival to avoid a cancellation fee.

Early Departure Fee:
An early departure fee equal to one (1) night’s room rate, plus applicable taxes and fees, will apply if a guest checks out prior to their confirmed departure date. To avoid this fee, guests should notify the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown Hotel at or before check-in of any changes to their length of stay.

Important Notice:
AIPLA does not engage third-party vendors to assist with hotel reservations. All reservations should be made directly using the booking link above or by calling 1-888-236-2427. Guests should identify themselves as part of the AIPLA group when booking.


 

Thank You to Our Sponsors! 

Speakers

  • Beck, Russell square200 Beck, Russell

    Beck Reed Riden LLP | Founder

    Russell Beck is a business, trade secrets, and employee mobility litigator, nationally recognized for his trade secrets and noncompete experience. He was invited to the Obama White House to develop guidelines for the proper use of noncompetes, and has been cited as an expert on trade secrets and noncompetes by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the White House, the Treasury Department, National Public Radio, the BBC World News Service, PBS Newshour, Le Monde, and many others.
  • Dearing, Lea 200x200 Dearing, Lea

    Berman Fink Van Horn PC | Shareholder

    A Shareholder at Berman Fink Van Horn, Lea counsels companies regarding disputes that arise in every day operations.
  • klapow200 Klapow, Mark

    Crowell & Moring LLP | Partner

    Mark A. Klapow is a partner in the firm's Litigation Group. He litigates complex commercial and intellectual property disputes, including trade secrets cases. Mark has represented Fortune 500 companies including Alcoa, AT&T, Caterpillar, Dow, Ericsson, ExxonMobil, Intel, Lenovo, Molson Coors, and Western Union in federal and state courts across the country.
  • Lui, Cathy

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe | Litigation Partner

    Cathy Lui is a litigation partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and she is based in the San Francisco office. Cathy primarily specializes in trade secrets litigation and her practice crosses all industries and sectors including tech, life sciences, retail, and financial services, among others. Cathy also engages in complex commercial litigation including employee mobility, false advertising, and other commercial disputes. Her matters are often high-profile and industry changing. For her achievements, Legal500 has repeatedly recognized her as a “Next Gen Lawyer” in Trade Secrets and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association honored Cathy as a 2019 Best Lawyer Under 40. Cathy is also very involved in her community and with DEI initiatives. She previously served as Orrick’s hiring partner for San Francisco, was a Fellow with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and a former co-chair of the Judiciary Committee for the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area.
  • Marsh. John 200 Marsh, John

    Bailey Cavalieri LLC | Member

    As the Co-Chair of the Firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group, John’s commercial litigation practice concentrates on trade secrets and the enforcement of restrictive covenants throughout the United States. John has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers of America for Intellectual Property Litigation, including Lawyer of the Year in Columbus in 2022 and 2024.
  • Pelletier, Dean Pelletier, Dean A.

    Pelletier Law | Founder

    Dean has been practicing IP law for 25 years and focuses on leveraging patents and trade secrets. Dean’s litigation, trial and appellate experience includes experience in federal and state courts and at the ITC.
  • Powitzky Steely, Rachel

    Foley & Lardner LLP | Partner

    Rachel Powitzky Steely is a leading female trial lawyer in Texas. Rachel has been recognized as one of the top 50 female lawyers in Texas, selected as a Houston elite 100 lawyer and was named a top 20 female trial lawyer by Texas Lawyer Magazine, the only trade secret/employment attorney to receive the honor. Rachel’s trial experience includes employment, commercial, corporate and insurance matters. She has won multimillion dollar verdicts and defended companies against claims exceeding 100 million dollars.
  • Weibust, Erik

    Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. | Partner

    Erik Weibust is a Partner in the Boston office of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., where he is Vice Chair of the firm’s Trade Secret & Employee Mobility practice group. Many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, technology, financial services, staffing, and insurance companies look to Erik for thoughtful and practical advice concerning how best to protect their trade secrets and customer relationships from misappropriation by former employees, ex-business partners, competitors, and hostile actors in the United States and abroad, and to avoid liability when hiring from competitors. When necessary, clients rely on Erik for aggressive representation in litigation, where he has won substantial victories in court and at the negotiating table, including broad-reaching injunctive relief and multimillion-dollar payouts, in trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and breach of restrictive covenant cases.
  • Weil_Michael_200 Weil, Michael D.

    Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP | Partner

    Michael Weil represents employers in a wide range of employment disputes, with a focus on class and representative actions asserting multimillion dollars in damages and high stakes noncompete, employee mobility, and trade secrets matters arising from a variety of industries, including life sciences, technology, retail, and financial services, throughout the United States.
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