Research Staff Profile -- Lyne Laliberté

Managing a Customer-Focused Patent Prosecution Process

As the manager of operations and patent administration for the campus's office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property (CVIP), Lyne Laliberté wears many hats. She is responsible for overseeing the patent prosecution process, managing the patent and agreements files and ensuring that things run smoothly in the CVIP office. Lyne is the liaison to the patent law firms hired by CVIP and works with the firms and Principal Investigators (PIs) to address outstanding issues and to bring the patent applications to the next level in the prosecution process. Lyne believes that customer service is at the heart of CVIP and that a large part of her job is to deliver quality service. "We want faculty to feel comfortable coming to CVIP and submitting their invention disclosures," notes Lyne.

Lyne's background as a paralegal has been a great asset to her work with the attorneys and PIs she interacts with during the patent process. She previously worked as a paralegal for the law firm of Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury, and Murphy, PC in Springfield and at the corporate headquarters of ADVO, Inc. in Connecticut. She also taught middle school French after earning her BA through the Frances Perkins Program at Mount Holyoke College.

In addition to her work on the legal side of the patent process, Lyne also manages internal processes at the office of CVIP. She monitors deadlines and works with the PIs to meet them. She also manages the new invention disclosure files. She says, "I want to make sure that no one who has submitted an invention disclosure is being left behind." Keeping on top of these deadlines and the paperwork involved is no small task. With over 200 docket files and a patent prosecution process that can sometimes take 4 to 5 years before a patent is issued, CVIP can be handling over 100 patent applications at one time and this number increases each year.

Lyne's job is not limited to patent prosecution duties. She explains, "Since we are such a small department staff-wise, we all end up doing a number of different tasks." For example, Lyne organized the exporting of the campus's Available Technologies information to the Massachusetts Technology portal, a collaborative project with the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center that allows industry to search for technologies from Massachusetts colleges and universities.

Lyne is an active volunteer, which she believes has enhanced her job skills. She says, “I've been involved with Womanshelter Compañeras in Holyoke for about 7 years volunteering and I've been the board president since 2003. I can bring some of my experiences there, like financial management and strategic planning, to my position here at CVIP, and vice versa.”

Of all of her various duties, Lyne really enjoys seeing the patent process pay off for the University and the PIs. She says, "We want to ensure that the University is getting the value it deserves for its intellectual property." One of her responsibilities includes monitoring the compliance and performance of license agreements after they've been executed, which involves the collection of royalties and maintenance fees. She explains, "While auditing a few of these statements, I came across a number of errors including the miscalculation of royalties and the devaluing of our intellectual property by the licensees. In one case, we were owed an additional $50,000, in a second, over $80,000, and we were able to recover these monies."

A new program that Lyne really enjoys is the Patent Awards that were held for the first time in the spring of 2006. She says, "That the PIs are being recognized by the campus through the CVIP Patent Awards is really wonderful."

Lyne has witnessed several positive changes at CVIP since she joined the staff in 2001. In particular, she sees the office striving to improve customer service. “One thing that has helped boost customer service is a focus on the unique needs of the researchers on the UMass Amherst campus” says Lyne. “This is something that Director Nick DeCristofaro continues to work hard towards.”

Lyne also thinks that the increasingly close relationship CVIP has with the Office of Research Liaison and Development (RL&D) is positive for the campus. She says, "If we can work toward getting more industry folks invested in campus research while working with RL&D, I think that makes a lot of sense and is good for everyone.”

One impending change for CVIP is the hiring of two new licensing associates, which is slated to happen in the next few months. Lyne currently chairs the search committees for the positions, one in the life sciences area and one in the physical sciences. “I think this will really help improve our customer service because we will have people out there visiting the various labs more than we can now. Hopefully this will result in quicker turn around times for everyone," she says.

Lyne can help PIs manage the patent application process or answer questions about CVIP. Contact Lyne Laliberté (413) 545-1062.