Rep. Peters Welcomes USPTO Official for Stakeholder Roundtable in San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CA – Today, the Office of Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52), CONNECT, and Business Forward welcomed Andrew Byrnes, Chief of Staff at the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO), to San Diego. Mr. Byrnes attended a roundtable event with local industry leaders to hear about the unique innovation economy growing in the San Diego region.

“San Diego is home to a growing number of companies and researchers who are developing innovative technologies and therapies,” Rep. Peters said. “I’m glad Mr. Byrnes was able to get out to San Diego to hear from regional leaders about the work that is happening in our area. During my time in Congress I’ve consistently been working to find ways to showcase San Diego to policymakers and administration officials in Washington, D.C., and this continues that effort.”

"We greatly appreciate Congressman Peters' efforts in arranging this meeting. CONNECT is pleased to host what will assuredly be an interesting exchange of views on current proposed legislation as well as the new regulations proposed by the USPTO," said Gary Klein, VP of Public Policy, at CONNECT.

“Today’s briefing allowed some of America’s most successful inventors to brief the PTO on how reforms enacted by the America Invents Act are affecting their research and their business decisions,” said Jim Doyle, president of Business Forward. “With further reforms being debated on Capitol Hill, new trade deals in negotiation in Asia and Europe, and new technologies disrupting industry after industry, PTO counts on feedback like this more than ever.”

Mr. Byrnes spoke at the roundtable event with business leaders at the CONNECT headquarters in La Jolla. This event gave San Diego stakeholders an opportunity to discuss how to build a smarter set of intellectual property laws for the 21st century, and get updated on key actions being taken to help businesses focus on innovating, not litigating.

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