Haynes Boone Partner Vera Suarez was quoted in an article in Bloomberg Law authored by Lauren Castle discussing the challenges that women still face on the path to inventorship in academic settings.
Read an excerpt below:
Vera L. Suarez, a patent attorney and partner at Haynes Boone, said she has no doubt from her experience that a gender disparity persists among inventors, patent agents, and attorneys. Bridging that gap is not just a matter of finding a new generation of female inventors, but convincing female inventors that not every patent has to be a groundbreaking invention.
Suarez, who focuses her work on design patents, said sometimes clients don’t realize that patents can be a small improvement and not an industry disruptor.
“I think women are innovating, maybe they are not aware that their contribution is patent-eligible,” Suarez said, who formerly worked as a field engineer before pursuing law.
The USPTO announced in November that it’s creating a new design patent bar, with expanded admission criteria for attorneys. Suarez said this move could open the doors to more women seeking to practice intellectual property without having a hard-science background.
To read the full article in Bloomberg Law, click here.
