Posts Tagged: "Drew Hirshfeld"

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal and outgoing Acting Deputy Director Drew Hirshfeld joined IPWatchdog’s CEO and Founder Gene Quinn today to discuss Hirshfeld’s nearly 30-year career with the Office, as well as Vidal’s philosophy as she embarks on her journey as the new Director. Vidal emphasized the importance of dialogue in shaping USPTO practices and processes but said she also will not wait around indefinitely on input over doing “what’s right for the country.” She said: “We will get feedback [but] that’s not going to stop us from acting.” Hirshfeld, who spoke with Quinn on his last day in office, joined the USPTO in 1994.

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Deputy Director, Drew Hirshfeld, will step down from a nearly 30-year career with the Office on June 21, 2022. That very same day, Drew Hirshfeld will join Gene Quinn, President & CEO of IPWatchdog, Inc., for a conversation to take a look back at…

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Deputy Director Drew Hirshfeld will step down from a nearly 30-year career with the Office on June 21, the USPTO announced today. Hirshfeld became Commissioner for Patents with the USPTO in 2015. He was appointed to a second five-year term in that role in July 2020. Before that, he served as Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, and for two years as the USPTO Chief of Staff for David Kappos. He also served as a Supervisory Patent Examiner, as well as a Group Director of Technology Center 2100, overseeing Computer Networking and Database workgroups. Hirshfeld first joined the agency in 1994 as a patent examiner.

In late March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard oral arguments in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. (Arthrex II) to determine whether the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had effectively addressed the constitutional violation under the Appointments Clause that was identified in previous rulings from the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court (Arthrex I). While the impact of the Federal Circuit’s ruling will likely be cabined by the recent Senate confirmation of Kathi Vidal to serve as USPTO Director, the decision could call into question the validity of at least the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) operations during the tenure of Drew Hirshfeld as performing the duties and functions of the USPTO Director up to Vidal’s confirmation.

In January of this year, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) sent a letter to Matthew Wiener, Acting Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), and Todd Rubin, ACUS Counsel for Congressional Affairs, asking that the ACUS “conduct a study on whether Congress should create a unified, stand-alone, and independent Intellectual Property Office.” But Wiener replied to Tillis’ letter on March 7, indicating that ACUS “has neither the expertise nor resources to conduct” such a study. Instead, Wiener suggested asking an entity better positioned to undertake the task, such as the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), which Tillis wrote to today.

Following a Request for Comments in March 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) yesterday published a Federal Register Notice updating the General Requirements Bulletin (GRB) for admission to the registration exam to practice in patent cases before the Office. The Notice indicates that the USPTO considered all comments and based on the “overwhelming” support for the proposals is moving forward with implementing the changes. The Notice says the Office received 32 comments in response to the March request for comments.

During the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) quarterly meeting held today, participants provided an update on the Director Review process under the Supreme Court’s Arthrex v. Smith and Nephew ruling, among other announcements. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Senior Advisor and Judge Linda Horner noted that, since the ruling, 14 timely requests for Director Review have been received; 11 of those were for a batch of related inter partes reviews (IPRs). Hirshfeld this week issued two decisions on the first two requests, denying both; the rest remain pending.

IPWatchdog and LexisNexis held a “Conversation with the Commissioner of the USPTO” today, in which Drew Hirshfeld, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Commissioner for Patents, Performing the functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, explained that, while he would prefer to wait until a political appointee is heading the Office to move ahead on substantive reforms, he will consider moving forward on important initiatives if necessary. “I’m trying to run the agency as if I was in this permanently, knowing I’m not and I won’t be, because I think that’s the right thing to do for the system,” Hirshfeld said. “If we’re going long enough without a nominee then maybe I need to move forward on things.”

At the quarterly meeting of the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) on Thursday, Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Drew Hirshfeld told attendees that patent filings are presently down 3.9% compared to the same time last year; the Office had projected filings would be down 3.7% for the year in the wake of the pandemic, but since filings have been coming in at a greater rate than expected in the last two months, the models now predict an overall 2% decrease for the year instead.

On Friday, March 26, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducted virtual LEAP training. LEAP stands for Legal Experience and Advancement Program and is a series the USPTO is fostering in order to help inexperienced practitioners develop the skills and practical experience necessary to effectively advocate on behalf of clients. Previously, the USPTO had offered LEAP training with respect to contested cases challenging patents post grant. On this day, however, the training focused on ex parte appeals to the Board from an examiner, which Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Chief Judge Scott Boalick characterized as “the bread-and-butter work” of the PTAB.

Join us for a free CLE webinar where we will discuss the processes and policies driving the USPTO. Topics during this casual conversation with the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners for Patents will include hot issues affecting the Office, how they ensure quality, patent examination policy, how they are using AI, and much more. We have assembled a stellar panel of…

Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent a letter on Monday to the acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Drew Hirshfeld, asking him to “initiate a pilot program directing examiners to apply a sequenced approach to patent examination,” rather than the traditional “compact approach.” This proposed pilot program would require a select group of examiners and applicants who elected to participate in the program “to engage in a full examination of the grounds of patentability and then, once that process is complete, a full examination of the grounds of eligibility.”

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) earlier today published a Request for Comments in the Federal Register asking for public input into proposed changes to the General Requirements Bulletin for Admission to the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (GRB). The Office is considering changing the criteria applicable in ways that would streamline the process for both applicants and the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), the office within the USPTO tasked with administering the Patent Bar Exam and implementing the rules pertaining to admission to practice before the Office.

Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Chris Coons (D-DE) sent a letter on Friday to the Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Drew Hirshfeld, asking him to “publish a request for information on the current state of patent eligibility jurisprudence in the United States, evaluate the responses,” and provide the senators with a detailed summary of the findings in order to assist them as they consider appropriate legislative action.