Meetings

Monthly meetings are free and open to the public. Networking starts at 5:30 p.m., introductions and announcements follow at 6:30 p.m. Meetings generally end around 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Pizza, snacks, soda and juice are available during the meeting.

Let us know what types of speaking topics are of interest to you for upcoming meetings. Private sector speakers at past meetings have included successful inventors, and experts in: marketing, branding, patenting, licensing, prototyping, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Speakers at past meetings have also included government officials from the US Patent & Trademark Office of Independent Inventors Program and US federal and state government small business assistance programs. See our Past Meetings andPast Newsletters page for more details.

Keep up with future meeting topics and schedules by periodically visiting our website for updates and meeting announcements. For more automated ways of finding out what we have planned for upcoming events you can sign up to our INCA Google Group which functions similarly to an email list serve. If you are not interested in receiving event information via email you can set up our INCA Google Calendar to automatically update your own personal electronic calendar such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. Also keep track of our occasional posts toTwitter.

Meeting Schedule for 2010

January 19, 2010
Our January 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave. McLean, VA 22101 (which is right across from the Dolley Madison Library). The speaker will be Keith Barritt of Fish & Richardson PC. Mr. Barritt will be giving a presentation "Trademarks 101." Keith's bio can be found at http://www.fr.com/my_bio.cfm?id=50. 

February 16, 2010
Our February 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at the Providence Community Room, 7921 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 127, McLean, VA 22102. John Weatherspoon Ph.D. Esq. ofWeatherspoon IP Law will be speaking on patents. Please use the doors on the left side of the building to enter. The meeting room cannot be accessed via the front main entrance doors. This meeting location is directly across from the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner.

March 15, 2010 - Evening
Our March 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, March 15, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099.

This meeting will feature patent attorney and IPWatchdog.com founder Gene Quinn. Mr. Quinn will be speaking on patenting basics and patent reform. He will also be talking about his brand new creation, the IPWatchdog Social Network, "A Social Network for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, Attorneys, Artists and Businesses." Gene will be available before and after the formal part of the meeting to answer your questions concerning intellectual property.

This meeting will also feature elections for INCA president, vice-president, and treasurer.

April 26, 2010 - Morning and Afternoon and Evening
The Licensing Executives Society (LES) DC chapter, US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Inventors Network of the Capital Area (INCA) are planning a joint meeting/class on intellectual property licensing for World IP Day. The class is "PDS 100: Commercializing Technology Through the Power of IP Licensing". The class starts at 8:30 am and ends at 5:30 pm. This class will be held at the USPTO headquarters, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 in the Madison building's large auditorium. If you are traveling to the USPTO by Metro take the yellow or blue line to the King Street station in Alexandria; Follow the pedestrian tunnel under Duke St. Please note that there will be a fee to attend the LES' licensing class. To register for this event click here.

A free networking reception, "Around the World", hosted by LES and the USPTO will take place, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, after the licensing class. If you are not attending the above class please register online for this free reception. This networking reception is also at the US Patent Office location mentioned above.

Our monthly INCA meeting will take place after the LES networking event. This meeting will start at 6:30 pm and go to approximately 8:00 pm. The meeting format will be a roundtable discussion and networking time. Instructors from the LES class will be available during this time for your questions about licensing. This meeting will also be held in the US Patent Office's Madison Auditorium.

May 24, 2010 - Evening
Our May 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, the 24th (fourth Monday of the month) at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. The speakers will include the following three individuals.

Peter Kosztolnik of Northern Virginia Graphics, Inc. is a professional patent illustrator with 25 years experience. Peter has major patent law  firms and inventors as clients. He will be speaking about patent drawings. His website is www.nvg-inc.com.

The other speaker, Scott Kraken, is a TV producer working on a series about inventors for the Discovery Channel. His website is www.krakenpictures.com.

Below is a photo of a MakerBot 3D Printer printing out a plastic pulley wheel. This printer uses ABS plastic filament, a "plastruder" heated plastic extruder nozzle,  X, Y, and Z moving components, and a computer running G-code to print 3D parts designed in CAD (computer aided design) programs. Glen Kotapish will be bringing this system to next Monday's (May 24, 2010) INCA meeting for a demo and brief talk. This system is created from a kit available from MakerBot Industries, Brooklyn, NY. See more at www.MakerBot.com

June 21, 2010 - Evening
Our June 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, June 21, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the third Monday of the month. Our guest speakers are Anne Kelly and Don Kelly. They helped launch INCA almost exactly 17 years ago. Both enjoyed long careers at the US Patent & Trademark Office and other federal agencies and now are principals at Intellectual Asset Management Associates, LLC based in Alexandria, VA. Anne will share her popular "Booth Truths - - Those Things You Simply Must NOT Do When Exhibiting Inventions." Don will offer insight on what to do first when coming up with that great invention: "When Lightning Strikes. 

July 19, 2010 - Evening
Our July 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, July 19, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the third Monday of the month. The speaker for this meeting will be patent attorney Ray VanDyke. See more about Ray at his website http://rayvandyke.com/about. Mr. VanDyke will be speaking on "The Bilski decision: helpful or harmful to inventors?" In Re Bilski is a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concerning the patentability of methods, especially business methods. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_re_Bilski for more information.

August 23, 2010 - Evening
Our August 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, August 23, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the fourth Monday of the month. Patent attorney Steve Ngo of Arlington, Virginia will be speaking on the patent prosecution process. Steve has worked for several different intellectual property law firms since graduating from law school in 1998.

September 20, 2010 - Evening
Our September 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, September 20, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the third Monday of the month. The speaker for this meeting has yet to be determined.

October 18,  2010 - Evening
Our October 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, October 18, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the third Monday of the month. The speaker for this meeting has yet to be determined.

November 15,  2010 - Evening
Our November 2010 meeting is 5:30 pm on Monday, November 15, 2010 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043-2099. Note, that the meeting is on the third Monday of the month. The speaker for this meeting has yet to be determined.