Patent Policy and Innovation: Do Proposed Changes Help or Hinder Innovation?

Featuring

[Moderator] Wayne Brough, Policy Director, Technology and Innovation, R Street Institute

Charles Duan, Assistant Professor, American University Washington College of Law

Peter Maybarduk, Director, Access to Medicines, Public Citizen

Anna Scrimenti, Associate Director, Public Policy and Advocacy, Association for Molecular Pathology

Karin Hessler, General Counsel, Association for Accessible Medicines

Overview

Patents are meant to spur innovation, and they play a prominent role in the fields of health care and medicine. While some call for changes that would expand patentability in the name of empowering inventors, others claim overly broad patents may impede innovation and make it more difficult to challenge invalid or predatory patents.

Join the R Street Institute for a discussion of patent policy and the potential impacts of proposed reforms on innovation, technology, and health care costs.

Raising Cane’s will be served for lunch.

Key Topics:

•  How can we improve the patent system to address high prescription drug costs?
•  How does patent eligibility affect innovation and health care costs?
•  How can we weed out invalid patents that impede innovation and increase health care 
   costs?