UW Law School Professor Pilar Ossorio, an expert in both patent law and biotechnology law, has been appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to be part of a large new project titled "Intellectual Property in the Knowledge-based Economy."

As part of this project, to be run by the Academy's board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP), Professor Ossorio will join a committee, "composed of leading economists and legal scholars, technical experts and practitioners, corporate managers and investors, and policy makers." The committee has been charged with three major tasks: (1) Determine what steps should be taken to ensure the quality of patent examination; (2) Understand how patent rights are being licensed; and (3) Reduce the uncertainty and costs of patent-associated conflicts.

The committee will focus on software-enabled business method patents and biotech patents, the two areas which generate the most problems. Co-chairing the group will be Richard Levin, president of Yale University, and Mark Myers, Senior Vice President of Xerox.

Submitted by on November 9, 2000

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