David Newman, of Gould & Ratner LLP (USA-Chicago), was featured in an Inside Counsel article Does Europe Issue Better Patents than the U.S.? The article cites European Patent Office President Benoît Battistelli saying his office scrutinizes patent applications more closely than the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), which results in patents that are more legally sound. David discusses this claim, as well as what can be done to improve the USPTO. According to David, passage of the America Invents Act a few years ago that enacted post-grant procedures at the USPTO such as IPR has resulted in a mostly positive reaction from the IP community. Further improvements along the lines of IPRs that provide streamlined, lower-cost conflict resolution processes should be pursued at the USPTO, he recommends.[caption id="attachment_3359" align="alignleft" width="144"] David Newman[/caption]