New Presidential Science And Tech Advisory Council Includes Patent Reformer

from the it's-a-start dept

While plenty of us have been quite concerned about President Obama's decision to appoint a bunch of copyright maximalists to the Justice Department (and the likely appointment of a maximalist to the IP Czar position), there's still the question of where the administration might come down on patent reform. While most of the press reports about President Obama's new Science And Tech Advisory Council have focused on names like Google's Eric Schmidt or Microsoft's Craig Mundie, one interesting appointment is Richard Levin, the President of Yale, and an economist with a long-term interest in patents.

While Levin is in the camp of folks who seem to believe the system can be fixed with some tweaks, he definitely recognizes many of the problems with the system, and his earlier research has noted (like similar research) that for new technology markets, patents can often get in the way -- especially in situations (like high tech) where innovation is "cumulative." Levin has pushed hard for increasing the obviousness bar, and making sure that patents actually are new and non-obvious -- something that would significantly help. He also was among the team that wrote A Patent System for the 21st Century. While there's plenty that I disagree with in both the assumptions and conclusions of the book, on the whole, it does show a rather thoughtful analysis. It's nice to see at least someone talking to the President recognizes that "more" isn't always "better" when it comes to intellectual monopolies. Separately, as others have noted, the really big deal here isn't necessarily who's on the board, but how much the new administration is willing to invest in funding for science and tech initiatives...

Filed Under: patent reform, patents, president obama, richard levin, science and tech advisory council