Signed by President George Washington, the first U.S. patent was issued in 1790. On June 19, the USPTO issued patent number 10 million. These ten million utility patents represent two centuries of breakthroughs that transformed the United States into the world’s innovation leader even as inventors from around the world have sought U.S. patent protection.
Panelists talked on the patent system and history of 10 million patents at the Lemelson Center in the National Museum of American History on June 20.
Panelists:
* Susie Armstrong, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm, and inventor of methods that permit your cell phone to connect to the Internet
* James West, Research Professor, Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, previously at Bell Labs and inventor of the foil electret microphone
* Drew Hirshfeld, Commissioner for Patents, USPTO
* Adam Mossoff, Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University
* Moderator: Arthur Daemmrich, Director, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
