Posts Tagged: "Patents for Humanity"

The U.S. Commerce Department’s United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced that Patents for Humanity is being renewed as an annual program. Started as a one-year pilot in 2012, the program recognizes businesses, inventors, non-profits, and universities who leverage their intellectual property portfolio to tackle global humanitarian challenges. The renewal was first announced on February 20 as part of the Obama administration’s ongoing commitment to strengthen the U.S. patent system.

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced the winners of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Patents for Humanity pilot program during an awards ceremony on Capitol Hill supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Launched by the USPTO in February 2012 as part of an Obama administration initiative promoting game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges, Patents for Humanity is a competition recognizing patent owners and licensees who address global challenges in health and standards of living.

On August 2, 2012, I spoke on the record with Erik Iverson, Executive Vice President for Business Development & External Affairs at the Infectious Disease Research Institute. In part 2, which is the final segment of the interview, we discuss the Obama Administration efforts to challenge the innovative community to put patents to work for humanitarian efforts. This project is called Patents for Humanity. Iverson and I discuss the project and whether it is likely to be successful, as well as the risk it runs of defining only one path to acceptably use patents for what the government views as humanitarian relief.

GUEST CONTRIBUTION BY USPTO DIRECTOR DAVID KAPPOS… President Obama’s Global Development Policy — the first by a U.S. Administration — recognizes that raising the living standards of humanity is not just a moral imperative for the United States; it is vital for our economic and national security. Patents for Humanity advances this policy by leveraging the power of invention to improve lives. I invite all patent holders to consider how your inventions could further the aims of the President’s Global Development Policy. If you are actively addressing humanitarian needs with your patents, please apply to our Patents for Humanity prize competition by August 31st, 2012.

I had the honor of being invited to the White House today for the Innovation for Global Development Event, which was held in support of the President’s commitment to using harness the power of innovation to solve long-standing global development challenges. As a part of this event, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, launched a pilot program dubbed Patents for Humanity, which is a voluntary prize competition for patent owners and licensees. The pilot program seeks to encourage businesses of all kinds to apply their patented technology to addressing the world’s humanitarian challenges.