July 29, 2015
On Tuesday, July 28, Mar-Bal hosted eleven (11) patent examiners from the US Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO). Their visit to the Mar-Bal R&D Technical Center in Chagrin Falls, OH was part of an industry outreach initiative designed to enhance the examiners’ knowledge of the state of technology in their assigned art area.
Being from the ‘Non-metal Forming’ art area, they sometimes evaluate patent claims referencing production apparatus similar to ours. Having a firsthand view of actual production equipment (as opposed to attempting to understand via abstract claims and simple 2-D drawings) is of great benefit to them.
The Mar-Bal team provided a relevant perspective which they will no doubt leverage in the future. Likewise, it was a great opportunity for Mar-Bal to engage a group who is sometimes difficult to access.
Here are some photos from the day’s event:
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