Do you have an idea for a patent? Curious about how to protect your intellectual property? Want to know how to file a provisional application for a patent?

If you are looking for an introduction to the patent process, make plans to attend the Open Forum and Q&A session with Lorraine Spector, a Supervisory Patent Examiner with the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) on Monday, March 23 at 3:30 p.m. 

Light refreshments will be served. This event will be hosted in Georgia Tech Library Ferst Room, 7th floor. Open to the Georgia Tech community - students, researchers, faculty and staff.

Speaker Bio

Lorraine Spector
Supervisory Patent Examiner
United States Patent and Trademark Office

Lorraine Spector is a Supervisory Patent Examiner in the Training Technology Center, 4100.  In that role, she trains newly hired patent examiners from the time they are hired until they progress to their ultimate place in the office four months later.  She also gives numerous lectures on legal and other examining-related topics, writes and devises curriculum.  This encompasses all levels of Examiner training, including a course on Patent Examination principles for Non-Examiners and special lectures to groups of Patent Examiners from other countries, that come to the USPTO to learn about US Patent Laws, and how the USPTO applies them. Throughout her career, in addition to examining patent applications, Spector has also been responsible for the initial training of over 300 patent examiners.

Spector started her career at the USPTO as an examiner in 1991, in Technology Center 1600, examining Biotechnology applications relating to hormones, cytokines, and cell-surface receptors.  She became a Primary Examiner in 1998.    She was awarded Masters Level Classification in 1996, and Ph.D. Level Classification in 1999.  In 2011, she became a full-time Supervisory Training Examiner. 

Spector has received the Bronze Medal Award for sustained excellence in the performance of official duties as a Patent Examiner in 1999, the Distinguished Career Award forexceptional contributions to the achievement of the missions and goals of the USPTO in 2004, and the Exceptional Career Award for superior performance in the examination of patent applications in 2014. She was also recognized by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) for Outstanding Contribution in Intellectual Property Law.

Lorraine Spector holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology from McGill University, and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California at Davis.