Arti K. Rai is an American legal intellectual and former public official. She is currently the Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law at

Duke Law School The Duke University School of Law is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit that began in 1868 as the ...

. She was previously a member of the

Presidential transition of Barack Obama Barack Obama's presidential transition began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the president-elect. Obama was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008. The results were cer ...

and subsequently served in the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...

as a

Patent Office A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether the applicati ...

advisor. During the early 2000s, Rai was one of the leading academic advocates of patent reform, particularly the creation of a robust post-grant opposition system for U.S. patents.

Education and early career

Rai received an A.B. in biochemistry and history from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1987 and spent a year as a student at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. She graduated in 1991 from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, where her team won top honors at the prestigious

Ames Moot Court Competition The Ames Moot Court Competition is the annual upper level moot court competition at Harvard Law School. It is designed and administered by the HLS Board of Student Advisers and has been in existence since 1911, when it was founded by a bequest in h ...

. Her classmates in law school included future president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and future

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justice

Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court ...

. After graduation, Rai clerked for Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

. Following private practice at the firm of

Jenner & Block Jenner & Block is an American law firm with offices in Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The firm is active in corporate litigation, business transactions, the public sector, and oth ...

and service as the trial attorney in the Civil Division of the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

, she entered academia.

Public service

As a member of the Obama-Biden transition, Rai was part of the team reviewing and science and technology issues, particularly in the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

. After the confirmation of

David Kappos David "Dave" James Kappos (born March 3, 1961) is an attorney and former government official who served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from 2009 to 201 ...

as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, Rai served as the agency's chief policy advisor until 2010. She has served as a member of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research and a public member of the

Administrative Conference of the United States The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent agency of the United States government that was established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act (). The conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the ...

, and is an elected member of the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars limited to 3,000 elected members and established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and i ...

Patent reform

Rai argued for the creation of post-grant opposition system for U.S. patents, with greater attention to principles of

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

than the patent system has historically shown. In 2011, Congress enacted much of the post-grant opposition reform agenda into the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. In the mid-2000s, Rai was also one of the leading proponents of a set of controversial Patent Office regulations that would have constrained the use of continuation practice in U.S. patent examination. The regulations were challenged as being outside the legal authority of the Patent Office, and were ultimately withdrawn while the case appeal was pending.

Books

* ''Valuing Health Care: Improving Productivity and Quality'' 2012 (with the Kauffman Task Force on Cost-Effective Health Care Innovation) * ''Critical Concepts in Intellectual Property Law: Biotechnology'' (editor) Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2011. * ''Law and the Mental Health System'' (with Ralph Reisner & Chris Slobogin) 5th ed. Eagan, MN: West Group, 2008.

References

External links

Duke Law School faculty webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Arti K. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American legal scholars American writers Duke University School of Law faculty Harvard Law School alumni American civil servants Harvard College alumni