In re Silver – Texas Supreme Court Follows CAFC Lead and Recognizes Limited Patent-Agent Privilege

I know Dennis posted on the main page, but wanted to post now (after trial is over, thank goodness!) that the Texas Supreme Court finally issued its opinion and held that, so long as the communication relates to practice before the Office, there is a privilege over communications involving patent agents and clients.  The opinion is here.  (I wrote an amicus brief in it.)

I’ve written about Queen’s University, the CAFC case that recognized a privilege over patent agent communications, and the dissent by Judge Reyna who (properly) recognized that if its scope is limited to what agents are authorized to do, patent agents may need lawyers to advise them about the scope of the privilege.

So, the opinion is good news but extreme care still should be exercised over non-supervised patent agent-client communications.