Lowering the Bar to Diversify the Patent Bar Would Be Misguided and Unethical

On December 11, Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE), sent a letter to United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Andrei Iancu inquiring about whether qualified women are excluded from membership in the patent bar as the result of systemic bias. This question is raised because of a paper written by Mary T. Hannon, a patent agent with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, who is also a J.D. candidate at DePaul University College of Law…. To remedy the situation, Hannon proposes solutions including expanding the types of degrees that satisfy the requirements to qualify for the patent bar, removing “undue requirements” on program accreditation and coursework, and introducing an apprentice model. In a word, this article is utter nonsense.

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