On Wednesday, October 2, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) hosted a briefing to celebrate the release of the Sunwater Institute’s study, “Patent Quality in the United States: Findings and Suggestions for Policymakers.”
The event featured a presentation from the Sunwater Institute on the findings and methodology of the study, which reviewed the U.S. patent system to analyze the quality of patents that are granted compared to those that are rejected.
Notably, the study refuted the myth that the patent system is plagued by “bad” patents, finding that more valid patent applications are rejected than invalid patents are granted.
It also found that, despite misleading arguments from some policymakers and activists, patent invalidation rates at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) or district courts are not accurate measures of overall patent quality.
Intellectual property experts and thought leaders, including C4IP Co-Chairs and former U.S Patent Office Directors Andrei Iancu and David Kappos, also delivered remarks on the study’s insights and its implications for future policy.
Check out our press release on the study, as well as additional photos and a recording of the briefing, below!
Speakers
- David Kappos, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2009-2013) and current co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Andrei Iancu, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2018-2021) and current co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Matthew Chervenak, founder and president of the Sunwater Institute
- Ani Harutyunyan, PhD, director of research at the Sunwater Institute and lead author of the study
- Mark Schankerman, PhD, professor of economics at the London School of Economics and research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research
- William Matcham, PhD, external scholar at the Sunwater Institute and assistant professor of economics at Royal Holloway University of London
- Frank Cullen, executive director of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)