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U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee on Fostering Innovation

Michelle Lee spoke about diversity, her office's priorities, the rise of patent infringement lawsuits and thinking globally.

By Queenie Wong, East Bay Times

Growing up in Silicon Valley, amid the apricot orchards and nascent semiconductor companies, Michelle Lee saw the hard work that comes with creating something new.

The daughter of an engineer, Lee said it wasn't uncommon to see others in her neighborhood invent something, file a patent to secure more venture capital funding and then start a company.

"Some of those companies succeeded and some of them didn't. But the few that did really revolutionized the world and the way we live," she said. "That was very exciting and I knew I always wanted to be a part of that."

Lee, the first woman to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, sat down with this newspaper to chat about diversity, her office's priorities, the rise of patent infringement lawsuits and thinking globally. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: You're the first woman to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. What is it like being a woman in a male-dominated field, and is it different in law and government versus in tech and science?

A: For much of my life, I've tread a path that did not have people who looked like me. When I was at MIT, women were in the minority and that was at the undergraduate level. In electrical engineering and computer science, it's even more so.

When you enter the legal profession, particularly patent litigation, it helps to have a technical background. There weren't many women in these roles and in leadership positions whether it be in technology, a top-tier law firm or even in the government. It's something I'm aware of and that's why I launched initiatives such as "All in STEM" because I hope more girls enter STEM professions and stay for as long as it's appropriate for them.

At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, we do a decent job. About 40 percent or so of our execs at the senior level are women. Compare that with the private sector and you'll see there's a difference, but we can still do more. I think it's a matter of economic imperative, not just a social one, that we nurture and develop all of our talent.

Q: Is your office doing anything to increase the number of women patent holders?

A: If you look at a study that was conducted over I think a 30-year period, fewer than 15 percent of U.S.-based inventors listed on a patent were women. At the current rate, it will take another 140 years to equalize and reach parity with male inventors. That's another reason why I launched the "All In STEM" initiative. Getting a patent gives you respect and recognition. It also means that you're more likely to get venture capital funding to start a business based on that patented technology.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office worked with a number of organizations to help create a Girl Scout patch on intellectual property. It's important that we get our youngsters excited about these issues early on. And for the girls, that we get an increasing number in the pipeline who work their way up in their careers. The attrition rate for women in the STEM profession is higher compared to the non-STEM profession. That's something that's worth looking at and where we can make improvements.

Q: A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted that patent infringement lawsuits are on the rise and patents can be unclear and overly broad. Do you agree with these findings and what is your office doing to improve the quality of patents that are issued?

A: Even before that study came out, I launched the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative. Not because I believe that the agency was not issuing good quality patents. I think the agency has been doing a good job and especially recently a better job. But our backlog was going up, and through a lot of hard work from my predecessors and my team that backlog has been going down. In fact, many of the recommendations that they mentioned, we were already working before the report published.

Q: Why do you think patent infringement lawsuits have increased so much in the last couple of years and what role does your office play in this?

A: That's a very complicated question. The fact of the matter is that intellectual property rights are more valuable now than ever before. The most valuable assets of the most valuable companies these days is not the factory, inventory or machines. It's the brand, processes, the algorithms, the designs. It's not surprising that there will be fights over who owns what because having rights to it entitles you to a certain portion of the market share. Our goal and the administration's goal is to eliminate the needless and abusive skirmishes and create an environment where companies can flourish.

Q: What are some of your other top priorities this year?

A: Making sure that American companies can confidently sell and export their products overseas. It's important that they do so because there's huge markets out there beyond the borders of the United States. We want our American companies to be able to tap into that and they will only do so with confidence if there are strong protections for their intellectual property.

Q: Your office also meets with other patent and trademark offices in Korea, Japan, Europe and China. What was the takeaway from this year's annual gathering?

A: With the economy being as global as it is, there's no way that a company is filing patent applications only in the United States if they're eyeing the potential of foreign sales. We work with many offices across the globe to make sure that we're not duplicating each other's efforts. To the extent that we can streamline and reduce the redundancy and duplication — not rubber stamp the other's office's work — but take a look at what they've done and refine it in our examination process then we'll produce a better-quality product.

©2016 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.