USPTO’s New Request for Comment is a Big Opportunity for AUTM Members and Tech Transfer
In a document that underscores the importance of tech transfer for amplifying the impact of patented inventions, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week issued a
Request for Comments on how the agency can expand its existing efforts to accelerate and incentivize the commercialization of innovation.
AUTM encourages Members and other tech transfer stakeholders to take advantage of this opportunity to provide input that will directly affect the AUTM community and its impact.
“Our unique experiences give AUTM and its Members a powerful voice to help influence future technology commercialization policy at the USPTO,” said AUTM Chair Andrew J. Maas. “AUTM has long supported strong patent rights as catalysts for impactful tech transfer. Now our feedback can help take that symbiotic relationship to the next level for the benefit of society.”
Working With a Sense of Urgency
The request, published in the
Federal Register on March 14, was authored by the USPTO with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and two of USPTO’s sister agencies within the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
“We must encourage and accelerate the transfer of technological advances to the marketplace to grow jobs, lift communities, bolster our national security and solve for local and world problems such as the effects of climate change or future global health challenges,” said Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, in a March 15
press release. “We are grateful to our partners at NOAA, NIST and NSF and others who are working with us with a sense of urgency to strengthen the commercialization of key innovations through intellectual property protection.”
The document reviews USPTO’s current initiatives related to tech transfer—including the 2023
Green Energy Innovation Expo, which was a collaboration among USPTO, AUTM and the Federal Laboratory Consortium—and invites suggestions for future initiatives. Scroll down for the list of 15 prompts provided by the agency, with themes including green/climate technologies and critical/emerging technologies.
“When brought to the market through commercialization, patented products save lives, improve our standard of living, and address some of the pressing issues to solve global challenges,” the request states. “By continuing to build a strong IP system that encourages the transfer of technological advances to the marketplace, we can foster the emerging technologies of the future, such as those that will mitigate the effects of climate change or prepare us for future global health challenges.”
The request for comment also specifies several high-profile issues on which the USPTO is
not seeking feedback.
“While the USPTO is proud of our recent initiatives to ensure robustness and reliability of IP, as well as the role the agency is playing in the current dialogue on Bayh-Dole rights, pandemic preparedness, and Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waivers, those topics are beyond the scope of this request for comment,” the document states.
How to Submit
Comments must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the portal, enter docket number PTO–C–2024–0004 on the homepage and select “Search.” The site will provide a search results page listing all documents associated with this docket. Find a reference to this request for comments and select the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
In particular, the USPTO seeks input related to:
- The biggest challenges to, and opportunities for, commercialization of innovation through use of the IP system.
- IP-related challenges or opportunities that are specific to commercializing green/climate technologies.
- IP-related challenges or opportunities that are specific to commercializing critical/emerging technologies.
- Changes to IP policies and practices that may help streamline or accelerate commercialization of IP in general.
- Changes to IP policies and practices that may help streamline or accelerate commercialization of green/climate technologies.
- Changes to IP policies and practices that may help streamline or accelerate commercialization of critical/emerging technologies.
- IP-related challenges that interested parties face when licensing or acquiring technologies.
- Challenges that interested parties face when attempting to identify potential licensees and when licensing intellectual property.
- Feedback on the USPTO's Patents 4 Partnerships platform.
- Feedback on the WIPO GREEN initiative.
- Opportunities for the USPTO to minimize any current challenges related to commercialization for certain persons, technologies, industries or companies.
- Opportunities for the USPTO to help underrepresented groups, individual inventors, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Opportunities for the USPTO to expand research commercialization opportunities through IP rights for minority serving institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
- Any role the USPTO can play in incentivizing innovations in commercially viable technologies.
- Laws or practices in other countries that are effective in bringing IP to market and how they can be adapted for the US.