Where Should the Focus STEM From?: Achieving Gender Parity in Global Patenting
Innovation is the foundation of the patent system and gender diversity is crucial for advancing innovation. Why? Because gender diversity ignites new discoveries through expanding viewpoints, questions, and areas of interest to be explored. It follows that there is, or at least should be, a strong correlation between gender diversity and the patent system. In the World Intellectual Property Organization's ("WIPO") recent 2023 publication, The Global Gender Gap in Innovation and Creativity: An International Comparison of the Gender Gap in Global Patenting over Two Decades (the "Report"), the Report analyzes women's involvement in global patenting over the last two decades and finds women to be involved in only 23% of all applications, which represents 13% of all inventors listed.
Despite these low numbers, the Report shows that women's participation in patenting has been moving in a positive trajectory. However, if current trends are maintained, the 50% target will not be reached until around the year 2061-still a long way off from achieving parity in global patenting. While the trend in women's participation in patenting is encouraging, there are a plethora of factors causing the lack of gender parity in patenting from keeping up with the times. That leaves us with two questions, (1) why will it take until 2061 to achieve gender parity in global patenting, and, ultimately, (2) where should efforts be focused to help achieve gender parity sooner than 2061?
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IPR Estoppel Issues
The scope and applicability ofinter partesreview ("IPR") estoppel continues to develop and reshape patent litigation across the country. After a ruling from the Federal Circuit in Apple Inc. v. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in early 2022, the Supreme Court is now considering whether to take another look at pivotal IPR estoppel provisions in the America Invents Act (AIA). In the current landscape, many uncertainties remain regarding exactly when, how, and to what extent IPR estoppel applies after a successful (or partially successful) IPR. These implications are significant and go far beyond the named parties in Caltech, as the potential benefits and risks of estoppel must be understood by litigants before filing an IPR petition.
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First Quarter 2023 Federal Circuit Law Update
Since serving as a Federal Circuit clerk, Michael Hawes has monitored that court's precedential opinions and prepares a deeply outlined index by subject matter (invalidity, infringement, claim construction, etc.) of relevant legal points - in order to assist clients seeking to identify recent law relevant to a particular problem.
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April 2023 Intellectual Report Recap
In case you missed it, here is a video recap of our April 2023 Intellectual Property Report that looked at:
- Traditional Intellectual Property Law Still Applies in the NFT World
- Hydrogen Innovation: Challenges in the Transition to Greener Fuels
- Defending Prior Software Use With 35 U.S.C. Section 273
- Texas Startups Hope to Continue Raising Capital Despite Tech Downturn
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