Patent Office Director Michelle Lee to Hold ‘Fireside Chat’ at UH

Michelle Lee
Under Secretary of Commerce Michelle Lee will speak at UH.

Michelle K. Lee, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), will meet with faculty and community members at the University of Houston Friday, March 11.

Lee will discuss recent initiatives aimed at supporting the region’s innovators, including the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative, intended to increase clarity and certainty with issued patents. She also will talk about her All in STEM initiative, designed to promote girls and women in science and technical fields.

The event is sponsored by the UH Division of Research and NASA Johnson Space Center.

USPTO opened a regional office in Dallas last fall, one of four regional centers the office has opened. The Dallas office serves Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee. It works with inventors, entrepreneurs, startups and the research community to help with the patent process and deliver technical training and other educational events.

Lee, the first woman to serve as director of the USTPO, serves as an advisor to President Obama on domestic and international intellectual property policy issues. Before joining the USTPO, she was deputy general counsel for Google and served as the company’s first Head of Patents and Patent Strategy.

WHAT:             Michelle K. Lee, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and director of the

                          U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will meet with UH faculty and others interested in

                          innovation and protecting or commercializing intellectual property.

WHEN:              Talk is 1-2 p.m. Friday, March 11. Lee will be available to talk with media immediately

                          before or after the event. Media is welcome to attend the talk.

WHERE:           Michael J. Cemo Hall, Auditorium, Room 100 D, UH campus. Parking available in the

                         Welcome Center garage, Calhoun Road at University Drive (Entrance 1), or the East

                         Parking Garage, 4733 Calhoun Road.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Jeannie Kever, 713-743-0778, m-713-504-3769, jekever@uh.edu.

                              Paul Fucito, 571-272-5016, Paul.Fucito@uspto.gov.

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