Professor Colleen Chien has authored two blog posts on PatentlyO. In Advancing Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship through the Patent System, Chien draws from her paper Inequalities, Innovation and Patents and argues that the patent system has an important role to play in advancing inclusive innovation. She offers several ideas for advancing innovation for all: targeting USPTO resources and capacities to meet the unique needs of underrepresented and underresourced groups, reducing the percentage of ungranted applications to underrepresented groups by improving the quality of underlying applications (for example, by democratizing access to drafting tools and aids), developing and reporting innovation equity metrics that leverage patent data, and diversifying inventorship by diversifying the patent bar. Professor Chien co-posted with students Jonathan Collins, Zachary Daly, and Rodney Swartz.
In Patent Prosecution Trends Following the Patent Eligibility (101) and 112 Guidelines, Chien considers the impact on patent prosecution trends of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International and the USPTO’s follow-up January 2019 Patent Eligibility Guidance (PEG). Chien reports on quarterly trends in office actions and filings before and after the PEG: “following the PEG, the prevalence of 101 subject matter rejections, and likely frustration associated with same, declined. At the same time, we did not find that 112 rejections increased noticeably to take their place, or that caselaw or the PEG resulted in sustained diminished filings.” Professor Chien co-posted with students Rodney Swartz, Nick Halkowski, and Maria He.