Annual Report of the Patent Public Advisory Committee is Now Public.December 8, 2023

After a year of hard work and an unprecedented number of requests for comments, advanced notices of pubic rule making, interactions with Director Vidal, as well as a fee setting proposal for 2025, the annual report of the Patent Public Advisory Committee is now public.  For those who missed our public hearing November 30, the report can be found at the link below:

https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/PPAC-2023-Annual-Report.pdf

It has been an honor to serve with this incredible think-tank of USPTO and PTAB advisors assembled by the United States Secretary of Commerce.  Our report touches on what we feel are imperative issues confronting our patent system and summarizes the work of the past year.  The report includes discussions of National Security, patents and their effect on Gross Domestic Product, AI, FDA and drug pricing as it interacts with patents, the PTAB and its claim invalidation rates, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion.   I am proud to have been the lead working with the dedicated employees at the USPTO on the section discussing  the USDA and USPTO collaboration.  The section discusses the intersection of plant associated IP as it relates to ensuring competition and national security as well as creating an environment that incentivizes research and development of new varieties.  These are essential to our economy as the world struggles to feed our ever growing population on less and less available farmland and in the face of climate change.

Thank you Suzanne Harrison for your strong leadership in elevating our work, and to my other Board members, Steven Caltrider, Judge Susan G. Braden (Ret.), Dan Brown, Charles Duan, Henry Hadad, Olivia Tsai, and next year’s chair, Loletta Darden.

Heidi Sease Nebel is a Partner, Patent Attorney and Chair of the Chemical and Biotechnology Practice Group at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. She is also Vice Chair of the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC).  For additional information please visit www.ipmvs.com.