Access to Justice for Black Inventors
To receive a patent, an inventor must communicate their invention so clearly that a patent examiner believes a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) would recognize how to make and use the invention. Many inventors choose to navigate this difficult communication path with the help of a patent practitioner. Though this process may first appear to be constructed objectively, inventors leveraging minority group-derived cultural capital face significantly larger barriers in the patent process due in part to the homogeneity of the majority culture patent gatekeepers – the practitioners and the examiners.Inventors must ensure the majority group-based practitioners and examiners recognize valuable distinctions of the invention over current technology and understand how to use the new invention without undue experimentation. This hurdle is compounded when the primary cultural source informing an inventor’s process and the expected users and makers of their invention is not shared within most of the patent practitioner or examiner community. These interpersonal bias barriers are compounded when examining communication hurdles between clients, attorneys, and examiners, in that some clients must supplement the lack of systemic cultural capital more than others.Through a case study of Black hair care patents, this article adds to the literature by highlighting hermeneutical injustices for Black inventors through a cultural capital lens. This article is the first in a series of papers showing how the majority culture bias in patent law and the lack of resources to bridge minority and majority group-derived cultural capital gaps disparately impacts those inventing in minority group cultural spaces. The cultural gap between minority group inventors and patent practitioners, nearly all of whom are majority-group, leads to inadequate and unequal representation and decision making. This paper calls upon the USPTO, patent attorneys, and academics to create a more equitable patent system through altering patent practice, legal education, and ethics rules
Year of publication: |
2023
|
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Authors: | Goodman, Jordana ; Patterson, Khamal |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Subject: | Schwarze Menschen | Black people | Erfindung | Invention | Gerechtigkeit | Justice |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource (56 p) |
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Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | In: Vanderbilt Law Review Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments February 1, 2023 erstellt |
Other identifiers: | 10.2139/ssrn.4345080 [DOI] |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014261050
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