Posts Tagged: "Diversity"

January 17 marks the first day in the tenure of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) new Commissioner for Patents, Vaishali Udupa. Udupa, whose appointment was announced in December, comes to the USPTO after serving the last seven years as the head of litigation for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she was responsible for heading HPE’s intellectual property litigation and formulating case strategies. She replaces Acting Commissioner for Patents Andrew Faile, who served in that role since January 2021 and who will be retiring from the agency after 33 years upon Udupa’s installation as commissioner. Well-known within the patent community as an advocate for diversity and representation issues, Udupa joins the USPTO as a relative outsider. She comes in as the first full Commissioner for Patents since the retirement of Drew Hirshfeld, who served with the agency for two decades before he was first appointed to Commissioner in 2015. Those familiar with recent Patent Office history will recall that Commissioners immediately preceding Hirshfeld included Bob Stoll, Peggy Focarino, John Doll and Nick Godici. Stoll, Focarino, Doll and Godici each served in various capacities at the Office, including in high-level policy and regulatory positions, for more than a generation prior to becoming Commissioner.

Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it is seeking comments from the public on the draft of the organization’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. According to a press release, the plan sets five goals for the organization: Spur U.S. innovation and global competitiveness; promote IP rights; promote IP protection against new and persistent threats; bring innovation to positive impact; and maximize agency operations.

My congratulations to Kathi Vidal of Winston & Strawn on her confirmation as the new Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and her new role as advisor to the President and the administration on intellectual property matters. Undersecretary Vidal’s credentials are beyond merely impressive. Her capabilities and her new position afford her an opportunity to influence intellectual property policy at a magnitude few ever experience, including a profound opportunity to enhance diversity. It is well established that diversity unlocks innovation and that innovation is critical to American competitiveness, jobs, national security, and quality of life. One of the tenets of promoting diversity is providing leaders, role models, and mentors from all reaches of the community to encourage participation from others of similar backgrounds.

In a letter provided last week to members of the National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI), Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced her role as Chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2). I congratulate the Secretary for this extremely important role. Innovation should have no barriers, and both of these—a) innovation and b) the breaking down of unjust barriers—stand at the root of America’s success and identity. To aid the CI2 and all who create and execute innovation policy in our government, underrepresented inventors have an unresolved ask, and it involves breaking down a barrier identified by the very people who the CI2 and Congress desire to help. That ask is this: remedy the inventor’s second prong.

Panelists on yesterday’s IPWatchdog webinar, “We Did it Our Way: Women IP Trailblazers Share Their Incredible Journeys” explained that, while the challenges they have had to face along their paths in the intellectual property (IP) world have made them stronger, there are actions both women and men can take to help minimize those challenges so that women don’t fall too far behind. Angela Grayson of Precipice IP said that, although the challenges of rising to the top in a male-dominated industry may make you a better leader, “some of the challenges really put us so far behind other people, and that’s something I hope we as a legal community can work to address in order to provide more equity.” She added: “There are probably other ways we could become better leaders besides being cash strapped and having to overcome these challenges, so we can spend our time really contributing to our economy.”

On March 30, 2021, President Biden tapped Tiffany Cunningham to be the first African American to sit on the Federal Circuit. After a straightforward and speedy hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee later advanced Cunningham’s nomination with a 16-6 vote. With her confirmation now imminent, Cunningham is poised to become the first African American, and the first African American woman, to join the Federal Circuit bench. Now that she has reached this historic milestone, this article reflects on the significance and impact of Cunningham’s nomination.

The full Senate Judiciary Committee today passed the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement (IDEA) Act, which seeks to direct the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) “to collect demographic data – including gender, race, military or veteran status, and income level, among others – from patent applicants on a voluntary basis.” Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH) reintroduced the bill in March of this year;  Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) are also co-sponsors.

On the morning of Wednesday, April 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing titled Improving Access and Inclusivity in the Patent System: Unleashing America’s Economic Engine. The discussion included panelists who represent many of the groups that are underrepresented in the U.S. patent system, with the intention of helping to inform both Congress and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on steps that can be taken to improve outreach to inventors from underrepresented groups and increase awareness of useful agency resources for prospective patent applicants.

A critical battle against systemic racism currently engages the United States. Patent practitioners across the country—from the University of Minnesota Law School (a mere 2.5 miles from the location of the killing of George Floyd) to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia (another 1,000 miles away)—must cast a critical eye towards our profession to identify systemic barriers in the patent field.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, it is important to point out the role of women in the field of patent law. Women have been members of the patent bar since as early as 1898, when Florence King became the first woman registered to practice before the U.S. Patent Office, as well as the 685th registrant. She became a lawyer first, and then went back to school to obtain a degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering so that she could register on the patent bar. As a woman patent practitioner with a mechanical engineering degree, I feel a lot of gratitude to women like Florence King, who paved the way for me. Yet, despite her trailblazing efforts over a century ago, there is still a considerable lack of gender diversity in the patent bar.

On January 27, more than 170 general counsel and corporate legal executives signed an open letter to big law firms expressing their disappointment that “many law firms continue to promote partner classes that in no way reflect the demographic composition of entering associate classes.” The letter states that the signatory companies will prioritize legal spend only on firms that commit to diversity and inclusion. Signed by chief legal officers across IP-intensive industries such as technology, retail, media, hospitality and financial services, the letter reiterates findings noted in a recent IPWatchdog webinar that indicate outside counsel need to do much better when it comes to fostering their corporate relationships. Companies including Google Fiber, Etsy, Heineken USA, Chobani Global Holdings, Waymo, Lyft, Vox Media, S&P Global Ratings and Booz Allen Hamilton are signatories.

On the morning of Tuesday, June 26th, both the House Subcommittee on Research and Technology and the House Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing titled Artificial Intelligence – With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. The day’s discussion centered on issues surrounding the nascent technological field of artificial intelligence (AI), including both the potential negative and positive impacts that improved AI technologies could pose to the U.S. workforce and society in general… The specter of increased Chinese investment into AI tech development was also discussed during the day’s hearing. During his opening remarks, Congressman Randy Weber (R-TX), chair of the House Energy Subcommittee, spoke to the concerns over increased tech investment by China into AI programs and how that threatens U.S. dominance in the field.