Posts Tagged: "Russ Slifer"

Russ Slifer: “And as you know by statute the Director is tasked with making the institution decision on an IPR but that’s been delegated to the PTAB for obvious logistical reasons. There’s no way that the front office could read through all petitions and make a decision itself so it had to be delegated to the Board. But sometimes there are cases that probably should be reconsidered on whether institutions should have be made – and maybe it’s because the art that is relied on is the same or substantially the same as what was in prosecution. Or maybe there is a financial hardship of the patent owner or the IPR will not resolve all of the outstanding validity issues that are pending in a district court. So there could be certain categories of reasons that you could basically an interlocutory appeal to the Director for reconsideration. I think that is one way to help address some of the potential abuses or hardships on the patent owner if there’s been several IPRs that have been instituted against a patent from different parties. Right now the system does not allow for reconsideration once a decision has been made. That’s just one example.”

As you will see from the transcript, nothing was out of bounds, although because of time we didn’t get into everything. Slifer did agree to come back for more in the coming months, specifically relating to a discussion about patent eligibility, and we will be following up on this specific ideas relating to inter partes review (which you will hear him mention in Part 1 of the interview and which we return to in Part 2). We did discuss the turmoil at the end of the Obama Administration and the fact that he did resign, as requested, effective January 20, 2017. We also discussed the mechanics of resignation, getting things done on a government timetable, how being Deputy Director was an extremely rewarding job, his view that a fee increase is absolutely essential and that Tony Scardino makes an excellent Acting Deputy Director. In the final segment, which will be part 3, we also spend some time getting to know Russ a little more, talking about movies, sports, music and more.

On the menu this week for Other Barks & Bites, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case challenging the Lanham Act’s disparagement provision, a six-figure damages verdict goes in favor of former USPTO Deputy Director Russell Slifer, a TTAB petition is filed to challenge the trademark application for an NFL franchise currently in the relocation process, an announcement by a Japanese academic-industry research project that claims to have doubled the effectiveness of solar cell panel conversion rates, the FTC takes action against a pharmaceutical company and much more.

The last time patent quality was being discussed the leadership of the Office had not come from the private sector, but rather came from within government ranks. Running the USPTO today are two people with substantial private sector experience and knowledge about how patents are used. This bodes well for the future, and is no doubt why so much of the focus on patent quality today was on issuing patents that deserve to be issued.

Director Lee announced that earlier this morning she swore in Russ Slifer to serve as the new Deputy Director of the USPTO. Slifer had been the Director of the USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional Office. He practiced intellectual property law for 20 years, serving for the last 8 years of his private sector practice as the Chief Patent Counsel for Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho.