Following a virtual April 2021 Brown Bag Lunch hosted by the BPLA’s Patent Office Practice Committee on the USPTO’s proposed changes to the General Requirements Bulletin (which detail the requirements applicants must satisfy in order to sit for the patent bar exam), the BPLA submitted a Response to the USPTO’s Request for Comments.  In its Response, the BPLA agreed with the USPTO’s proposed addition of certain degrees to the “Category A” of specified bachelor’s degrees that presumptively qualify for acceptance, the proposal to add master’s and doctoral degrees to Category A, and relaxing coursework requirements for certain Category B applicants.  In addition, the Response recommended the addition of additional specified degrees to Category A, as well as a flexible approach to interpreting whether a degree whose title did not explicitly match the title of a Category A degree should nonetheless qualify to avoid the need for applicants to resort to qualification under Category B.  The Response also explained that such a “common sense” approach could serve the goal of increasing inclusivity in the patent system, as numerous sociologic and institutional barriers already complicate engagement with our intellectual property systems, and additional burdens, even if incremental, could serve to substantially deter ultimate admission for individuals presently underrepresented in the innovation ecosystem. On September 22, 2021, the USPTO issued a Notice on Administrative Updates to the GRB that implemented changes consistent with those proposed by the BPLA.  In addition to implementing the proposed revisions to the Category A list of degrees and relaxing coursework requirements for Category B, the USPTO added an additional degree, environmental engineering, to Category A, as was proposed by the BPLA.