Chicago-Kent College of Law Assistant Professor Jordana R. Goodman has won the Best Paper Award at the Gender and Research Conference, hosted by Indiana University's Kinsey-Kelley Center for Gender Equity in Business. Despite the conference's cancellation, Goodman's research was recognized alongside her co-author Mike Schuster, an associate professor at the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business.
Goodman and Schuster's study explores gender equity in patent law, focusing on interactions between female inventors and female patent attorneys. "A lot of the stories that we’re seeing in gender equity research [seem to show] that women aren’t getting a fair shake at things," Goodman explains. She notes that both female attorneys and inventors are less likely to secure patents compared to their male counterparts.
The World Economic Forum reported that only 17 percent of international patent holders were women in 2022. Similarly, a 2020 report from the United States Patent and Trademark Office revealed that just 21.8 percent of patent attorneys nationwide were women.
Goodman emphasizes a significant finding: "We’re finding that if a female attorney works with a female inventor, there’s a mitigating effect." This suggests that collaboration between women may reduce negative outcomes when dealing with the patent office.
The research highlights an often-overlooked aspect—the role of patent attorneys in this process. Goodman states, "Until now, most of the research that’s been done has really focused on either just the inventor or the interaction between the inventors and the examiners at the patent office." The study introduces a novel perspective by examining gender interactions within what they term as "the Patent Trifecta"—inventors, attorneys, and examiners.
Their paper titled “The Patent Trifecta: Gendered Interactions of Inventors, Attorneys, and the USPTO in Patent Prosecution” is set for publication soon.