The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced new appointments to its Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) today. The new members include PIJIP Senior Policy Fellow Charles Duan.

As described in the USPTO press release, the PPAC is "composed of private-sector intellectual property (IP) executives who help advise the Secretary of Commerce and the USPTO Director on the management of patent and trademark operations. The Secretary of Commerce appoints the nine members of each committee to serve three-year rotating terms." More information on PPAC is available on the USPTO's PPAC information page.

In addition to his fellowship at PIJIP, Charles Duan is a Fellow with the Cornell Tech Research Lab for Applied Law and Technology. He was previously director of technology and innovation policy at the R Street Institute and director of the patent reform project at Public Knowledge, where he handled all aspects of patent policy ranging from outreach on the Hill to writing white papers and filing amicus briefs. Prior to this, he was a research associate to Professor Paul Ohm on a National Science Foundation-funded project that investigated the policy implications of newly proposed internet architectures. He also worked as a patent attorney at Knobbe Martens. Charles is the author of A Five Part Plan for Patent Reform (2014).