GIPC Speaker Series Hosts Former Chief Judge Paul Michel

GIPC Speaker Series Hosts Former Chief Judge Paul Michel

The American economic recovery has stalled, and investments in manufacturing and hiring have faded. The innovations that could help spur economic renewal and strong job growth are instead trapped in a warehouse outside Washington DC, awaiting review by the swamped and under-funded US Patent & Trademark Office. Nearly 750,000 patent applications sit in that warehouse, while another 400,000 are at the USPTO. Congress, meanwhile, has siphoned off nearly $1 BIllion of the PTO’s funds — all user fees paid by patent applicants and owners — by diverting these much-needed patent user fees to subsidize other pet projects. How did this happen and how do we fix it? 

Join us next Wednesday (July 21, at 9:30 a.m.) to hear Judge Paul R. Michel, recently retired Chief Judge of the federal court that decides all patent appeals, speaks out. Having served the past 22 years on the U.S.