December 19, 2002
#02-76
USPTO Holds Round Table on International Harmonization of Patent Laws
USPTO Holds Round Table on International Harmonization of Patent Laws
PRESS RELEASE
The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today held a round table meeting in Arlington, VA, to hear from representatives of small businesses and global patent issues experts on solutions to the challenges faced by American innovators in protecting their intellectual property abroad.
In response to a General Accounting Office recommendation and a request from Members of Congress, the USPTO asked for input from small businesses, policy experts, and other interested parties on international costs and fees, procedural and administrative matters, substantive patent law and enforcement in order to assess the advantages and disadvantages of various options for achieving patent law harmonization.
Ten participants, listed below, shared their views on a variety of topics, including what can be done at the domestic level to assist small businesses in protecting their intellectual property internationally; major obstacles faced by small businesses when attempting to obtain patents in foreign countries; programs that are successfully helping small businesses obtain patents in multiple countries; and whether any new initiatives, beyond current patent harmonization efforts, should be undertaken internationally.
Hon. Gerald J. Mossinghoff - Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier
& Neustadt
[PDF]
Ms. Nancy J. Linck - Guilford Pharmaceuticals
Mr. Herb Wamsley – Intellectual Property Owners
Association
Mr. Charles Van Horn – American Intellectual Property Law
Association
Mr. Albert Tramposch - George Mason University School of
Law/Burns, Doane
Mr. Samson Helfgott – American Bar Association/Katten,
Muchin
Mr. David Peyton – National Association of
Manufacturers
Mr. Brian Kahin for Mr. James Love - Consumer Project on
Technology
Mr. Jere Glover - Small Business Technology Coalition
Mr. Dave Burstein - DSL Prime
Participants’ statements will be available tomorrow on
USPTO’s Web site,
www.uspto.gov
, and a transcript of the meeting will be posted to the site in
a few weeks.
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