President Obama to Nominate David Kappos as USPTO Director

    By Donald Zuhn --

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released a statement today indicating that President Obama intends to nominate David Kappos (at right) to be the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Senator Leahy stated that Mr. Kappos' experience as a development engineer and leading intellectual property attorney make him "exceptionally qualified to lead the Patent and Trademark Office."  The Senator also noted that Mr. Kappos, the Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Intellectual Property Law at IBM, serves on the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), and the International Intellectual Property Society.  Senator Leahy concluded by stating that:

The USPTO faces serious challenges in this difficult economic environment, and the office requires strong leadership.  David Kappos is such a leader.  I look forward to working with him on issues confronting the USPTO, including reducing the backlog and pendency of patent applications and modernizing the patent system as Congress considers the Patent Reform Act.

Senator Leahy's statement was followed shortly thereafter by a White House announcement regarding Mr. Kappos' nomination.

Patent Docs thanks Hal Wegner for alerting us to Senator Leahy's statement.

Comments

[staff]

based on his testimony to congress he back sthe patent reform bill which has nothing to do with reform. the question is will he be his own man and strive to actually fix the patent office or will he use this as an opportunity to advance the agenda of large corporations like IBM in making patents the sport of kings, stifling innovation and plunging the country deeper into debt and depression? we will see.

[Josh K]

Certainly there is a concern that Kappos will bring the big company agenda to the patent reform movement. However, being charged with the significant responsibility of running the USPTO can impose the underlying mission of the patent system which is to promote and foster innovation.

For more on this topic, see http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/06/patent-office-eliminates-overtime.html