[author: Michael Shuster]

On Thursday United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director David Kappos announced the Global Dossier Initiative, which aspires to be a "global portal for all stakeholders working on patent filings in multiple patent offices." As a firm that files and prosecutes patents for life science companies all around the world, we hope this initiative is a success. Life science companies often depend on just a small handful of patents, and their coordinated prosecution in multiple jurisdictions is a vital process that could use improvement and streamlining. Life science companies will never accumulate the vast portfolios of patents that we see in the tech space; LS and tech companies are opposites in that regard. But making sure that foreign patent filings are done properly and coordinated carefully with U.S. efforts is crucial.