David R. Gerk is an attorney in the Office of Policy and External Affairs (OPEA) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where he advises the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on domestic and international IP issues as well as on United States treaty obligations and helps to formulate U.S. domestic and international policy regarding protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Prior to joining the USPTO, David was a shareholder in Banner & Witcoff's Washington, D.C., office where he practiced intellectual property law. John M. Fleming is a principal shareholder at the law firm of Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., specializing in all forms of intellectual property protection, where he concentrates on preparing and prosecuting utility and design patent applications in a variety of technical fields while participating in litigation matters, client counseling, and a wide spectrum of opinion work. John's technical areas include telecommunications, Internet-related and private network technology, semiconductors, e-commerce, digital/electronic handwriting, color management, graphical user interface systems, financial security, application programming interfaces, and computer-relation technologies.