Driving American Innovation — ADVENT - Intellectual Property Law Firm

by Vijay Nenmeni

Vijay Nenmeni of Advent, LLP recently attended the “Driving American Innovation” Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance (GIPA) and the AIPLA.

Following short welcome addresses from the president of the Georgia Chamber and the SVP of GIPC, Congressmen Hank Johnson and Doug Collins discussed the importance of having a predictable, reliable and transparent patent system. The congressmen urged the innovation community to come together to provider concrete proposals that Congress could pursue that would better the patent system.

Director Iancu.png — *USPTO Director Iancu stresses the importance of the pace of innovation in the United States.*

USPTO Director Andrei Iancu then delivered the Keynote address on “Driving American Innovation”. Director Iancu’s talk addressed several hot topics, including the importance of increasing the pace of innovation in the United States to match that of other countries, changes in Section 101 and post grant proceedings, and the participation of women inventors in innovation and technology. Please click https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/remarks-director-iancu-us-chamber-commerce-driving-american-innovation-policy to access his full keynote address. Director Iancu completed his keynote with a rousing introduction to a local legend in Dr. Lonnie Johnson, inventor and engineer, most famous for the super soaker.

Following the Director’s keynote, a lively panel discussion on “Innovation improving lives” included Dr. Lonnie Johnson, as well as senior executives from Coca Cola, Dupont, and RELX.

Ben Thomas from Mercedes-Benz then stepped the audience through how Mercedes-Benz was leading innovation in the connected/autonomous vehicle space and showed Mercedes-Benz’s vision of the future car (and the future driver). For more information, visit: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz/vehicles/transporter/vision-urbanetic-the-mobility-of-the-future/

Ben’s address was followed by a panel discussion on “Counseling & Litigation in an Era of Legal Uncertainty” including James Harris, Corporate Counsel at UPS.