PIPLI Requests Records of Patent Office’s Communications with Outside Groups about Recent Rulemaking

Alex Moss | May 23, 2023

The Patent Office recently published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with a litany of proposed rules that would make it even harder for the public to challenge invalid patents. When members of Congress asked about these rules at an oversight hearing, Patent Office Director Kathi Vidal repeatedly stated that they reflected feedback from “stakeholders.” But these oblique references to unidentified stakeholders only raised more questions, in particular: which outside groups or private individuals influenced the Patent Office’s proposed rules?

To get answers to that question, the Public Interest Patent Law Institute (PIPLI) has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records of the Patent Office’s communications with outside groups and private individuals about the proposed rules.

This is information the public needs and is entitled to receive. As a public agency with a duty to the American public, the Patent Office should propose policies that reflect the needs of all Americans. If the Patent Office instead is catering to a small number of private interests whose profits depend on invalid patents, the public needs to know that—and change it.

We hope the Patent Office will provide prompt and complete responses to our FOIA request. If not, our fight for access to this crucial information will have only begun.