New York, NY, July 9, 2009 – Dr. Pat Choate, a prominent economist, best-selling author, former vice presidential candidate and noted intellectual property expert, has joined the Board of Directors of American Innovators for Patent Reform (AIPR). Dr. Choate, currently director of the Manufacturing Policy Project, a Washington, DC-based policy institute, has thrown his support behind an organization that represents American innovators – inventors, scientists, engineers, researchers and intellectual property service providers – in the ongoing struggle to enact meaningful patent reform.