Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day 2023April 26, 2023

McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC is proud to support World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2023. This day celebrates the role intellectual property rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity and the many inspiring inventors and creators around the world who are working to provide for a better tomorrow.

The theme for this year’s World IP Day is “Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity.” Women in all regions are shaping the world through their imagination, ingenuity and hard work, but often they face significant challenges in accessing the knowledge, skills, resources and support they need to thrive. According to a June 22, 2022 Washington Post article titled “Female scientists don’t get credit they deserve,” female scientists are 13 percent less likely than men to be named as authors on articles and 58 percent less likely than men to be named as inventors on patents. Studies suggest that women’s contributions to science continue to be underestimated. In addition, there are still too few women who are participating in the intellectual property (IP) system. That means too few women are benefitting from IP. So how do we encourage more women to participate in the IP ecosystem since we all know that they bring new perspectives and talents to the table? We need to do more to inspire women inventors by supporting STEM programs at schools across the country, like the USPTO’s Camp Invention™, Leaders-In-Training, and Leadership Interns. In addition, MVS supports the USPTO’s Empowering Women’s Entrepreneurship (WE), a community-focused, collaborative, and creative initiative to encourage and empower more women business founders across America.  Anyone can join WE at no charge by emailing WE@uspto.gov and hear about all their upcoming, free programs.

It is encouraging to note that in a report from the USPTO titled “Progress and Potential: 2020 Update on U.S. Women Inventor-Patentees,” that from 2017-2019, women make up an increasing share of new patent applications, rising from about 5% of inventor-patentees in 1980 to 17.3% by 2019. More women are entering and staying active in the patent system than ever before. Additional information on the progress being made can be found here.

It is also worthy to note the women inventors who have made a difference in all of our lives. I profiled many of them in a recent Filewrapper post as well as the USPTO also highlighting trailblazing women inventors.

On this World IP Day MVS recognizes the important inventions and innovations created by our clients. We are honored to work with them on their intellectual property needs and help make their dreams reality. Additionally, our work to have more women involved in the intellectual property ecosystem will continue in earnest.

Richard Marsolais is the Business Development Director at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. To learn more, visit our MVS website , or contact Richard directly via email.