Canadian Lawyer

BY JASON LEUNG TECH SUPPORT Faster with less chance of human error Automated batch letter system takes out a lot of onerous steps and also helps ensure greater accuracy in client communication. more human error, and has the potential to be used in different types of practices. In our IP practice, we have two types of batch letters: reminder letters and reporting letters. In most cases, they are sent out using the same format with similar content. An example of a reminder letter A efficient, is one to respond to an "examiner's report. ent application, an examiner at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office usually issues an examiner's report. It generally contains one or more objec- tions to the patent application that we must respond to by a specific due date. Upon receiving the examiner's report, we forward a copy to our client along with our suggestions as to how we should respond to the objections. If we do not receive our client's instructions by two months before the due date, we send the client a reminder. It is a standard form letter that: (i) reminds the client that we must file a response to the examiner's report by a specific due date; and (ii) requests the client's instructions as to whether or not we are " After we file a Canadian pat- t Ridout & Maybee LLP, we use an automated batch letter system that makes our patent and trademark operations reduces the risk of to proceed with submitting a response. An example of a reporting letter is our letter to report that a Canadian pat- ent has been issued. After we address all of the examiner's objections and have paid a fee, the Canadian patent applica- tion becomes an issued Canadian pat- ent. Upon receiving the issued Canadian patent, we send a reporting letter to the client enclosing the issued Canadian patent. Again, it is a standard form letter that advises the client of the issued Can- adian patent's serial number, issue date, and date of expiry. Traditional law practice In a traditional law practice, and spe- cifically an IP practice, when a firm receives an examiner's report, a records clerk dockets the due date to respond to it. If the firm has not received instruc- tions from the client by a set time, one or two months, a reminder letter is sent to the client. The records clerk needs to locate and pull the paper file from the file room and bring it to a patent clerk. The patent clerk probably has a generic precedent for the reminder letter saved as a Word document that she can manu- ally add in the due date and then send out the reminder letter to the client, print out a copy, and spike it onto the paper file. The patent clerk returns the paper file to the records clerk. 18 JUNE 2012 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com sending out similarities to the procedure for the reminder letter. Upon receiving an issued Canadian patent, the records clerk has to locate and pull the paper file, and subsequently return the paper file to the appropriate location in the file room. The patent clerk will open a generic precedent which has been saved as an MS Word document, manually type in information such as the issued Canadian patent's serial number, issue date, and expiry date, send out the reporting letter, print out a copy of the reporting letter, and spike it onto the paper file. These procedures have obvious The procedure for generating and a reporting letter has inefficiencies, including the time and effort required by the records clerk to locate, pull, and return the paper file and by the patent clerk to manually type in information, print out a paper copy of a letter, and spike it onto the paper file. They also carry a significant risk of human error. Law practice enhanced by our automated batch letter system Our firm's practice has been improved by the combination of our automat- ed batch letter system and by imple- menting a system of maintaining our

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