Streamlining the Patent Application Process to Nurture the Innovation of Tomorrow
Summary
To clear a path for the innovations that will fuel our nation’s economic recovery, the Biden-Harris Administration should streamline the patent application process by improving the correspondence between patent claims and the specification, supporting search clarity, and ensuring concise specifications. Not only would this reduce the time lost to bureaucratic paperwork, but these efforts would also give innovators a more efficient road to acquire patents. In turn, applicants, examiners, and the public at large would benefit from the new industries and innovations to come.
These ideas aim to advance the detailed policy solutions needed to foster public trust and implement fairness in the adoption of AI across diverse domains, from healthcare and government benefits to rural access, education, and worker protections.
The evidence is clear: algorithmic pay-setting is established in app-based work, and payroll/timekeeping failures show how software can produce systemic wage harm at scale
While a few states have taken steps to implement decision-making mechanisms for certain AI systems, too many leaders are simply accepting narratives about AI’s purported public benefit at face value – jumping to the “how” of AI implementation before thoroughly vetting potential systems and deciding whether they are appropriate to use at all.
When properly structured — with specific numeric targets, secured financial obligations, independent monitoring, and meaningful enforcement — CBAs transform data center deals into durable community partnerships.