Managing significant changes to the U.S. patent system brought about by implementation of last year’s major patent reform law is not just a project that stays within our borders. Since many outside the U.S. seek a U.S. patent, other nations have a keen interest in understanding how the America Invents Act will work and may wish to file comments on the rules packages associated with implementing the biggest overhaul to U.S. patent law since the system was born over 200 years ago.

Recognizing this interest, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos undertook a European “road show” last week, visiting six cities in four days to conduct stakeholder outreach events and meet with the heads of offices from several European intellectual property offices. In conjunction with local chambers of commerce, Under Secretary Kappos covered three important topics during these stakeholder outreach events: an overview of the significant changes being made to the patent system by the America Invents Act and progress in its implementation; the need for further harmonization of the world’s patent laws; and the benefits of a work sharing mechanism known as the Patent Prosecution Highway, or PPH 2.0.Under Secretary Kappos gave the keynote address on U.S. patent reform at a global conference in Munich, Germany, and events were also held in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. While in Budapest, Kappos presided over a high-level event honoring Hungarian-American inventors with the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, and Dr. Miklós Bendzsel, President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office. The featured inventors were Dr. Kamilo Feher (who has more than 70 U.S. patents in fields of digital wireless mobile communications); Dr. Julianna Lisziewicz (President and CEO of Genetic Immunity); and Dr. Istvan Gorog (who has 45 U.S. patents and several active pending applications). All of these events provided excellent opportunities to gather European stakeholder feedback and raise public awareness on important issues related to these changes to the U.S. patent system.