What does U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal think of Molly Metz’s story? In a wide-ranging Clause 8 interview, that is one of the only questions Vidal chooses not to answer directly. While acknowledging that the patent system could use improvements in a variety of areas, Vidal makes it clear she prefers for the focus to be on positive stories about how the U.S. patent system is “the gold standard.” After all, Vidal goes out of her way to point out, America’s “strong patent system” delivered the COVID-19 vaccines.
“If there was not a strong patent system, we would have never gotten to where we did with regard to the vaccine,” Vidal says. “And then we needed all the developments on top of that, and we needed patents so that companies could collaborate. Because if you don’t have patents, people keep things [as] trade secrets. They need to make sure that they can get a return on investment for all the great work that they’re doing.”
In the spirit of positivity, Vidal even – somewhat surprisingly – praises the same pharmaceutical companies that created the vaccines for all the work they did “to make sure that those vaccines got out there…into the hands of those who need them.”
But what about all the changes that are making it easier to invalidate patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB)? Vidal disagrees with that characterization. She argues that “the statistics are much different” and would “encourage people to look beyond what they may see in the news.” Her main goal, Vidal repeatedly explains, is to ensure consistency and clarity with regards to how the PTAB operates.
While independent inventors who hear the story of how Molly Metz’s patents were invalidated by the PTAB are unlikely to find that explanation satisfying, she makes it clear that she’s hearing their stories and looking for ways to make the patent system work better for them as well. “I am open to…
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