Cardozo and Google’s partner program seeks to provide women and minority patent seekers with resources and guidance
Cardozo School of Law is proud to announce Jeanne Curtis has joined the law school staff, as the director of The Cardozo/Google Patent Diversity Project, a new initiative for the law school. Curtis will also serve as a visiting assistant professor.
The patent project, funded through a $200,000 grant from Google, was created with the goal of increasing underrepresented groups of patent holders including women and U.S. born minorities. Cardozo and Google want the law school to become a go-to destination for female and underrepresented entrepreneurs to protect their patent rights.
Currently, less than eight percent of patents list women as the primary inventor. A similar trend exists for U.S.-born minority groups. Cardozo has learned through the work of its Tech Startup Clinic that companies founded by women and U.S.-born minorities are disproportionately in need of pro bono legal assistance to secure patents and protect their intellectual property rights.
Before joining Cardozo’s faculty, Curtis spent more than 20 years in private practice specializing in intellectual property law. She was a partner at Fish & Neave LLP and later at Ropes & Gray LLP. She counseled clients on the creation, protection and enforcement of their intellectual property and tried cases in federal courts and tribunals around the country.
She is excited about the Cardozo-Google Patent Project. “It is a unique program in the law school space…unlike any other offered by a law school or other institution,” Curtis said. “There are a lot of components involved in organizing a vehicle that will provide services to prospective patentees; the role as project director presents a great opportunity for me to make a difference. The US has made strides getting women and other underrepresented groups into STEM fields. Now we need to take the next step and get patent protection for the technology developed by these groups. The Cardozo/Google Project is here to advance that goal for individuals and entrepreneurs who do not otherwise have access to the patenting process because of limited resources. ”
Curtis also teaches intellectual property as an adjunct professor of law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center).
Curtis received both a B.S. in mathematics and a J.D. from Boston University.
Google provided a $200,000 grant for Cardozo’s project, over two years, to launch the program and help build a sustainable network of pro bono lawyers for patent work in the future.
Cardozo’s nationally-ranked IP program, a network of in-house counsel, private law firms and pro bono legal clinics will work together through a centrally managed national network to offer assistance.
As of 2014, there are 128 small business/entrepreneurship, community economic development and IP-focused law clinics across the country, with local networks of entrepreneurs who need assistance. The patent project will work with these clinics to tap into existing communities of entrepreneurs. The project will also seek to build relationships with city and state governments, state bar associations, premier technology organizations and entrepreneurial networks.
The project will require that each law firm, lawyer or IP transactional clinic participating in the network agree to assist a minimum of two entrepreneurs per year.