Posts Tagged: "bruce lehman"

The International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), founded and headed by former United States Patent and Trademark Office Commissioner Bruce Lehman, has recently brought in two seasoned intellectual property attorneys. Andrew Hirsch, who worked closely with Lehman at the Department of Commerce, has been named the Executive Director of IIPI, and Richard Litman, is now its General Counsel. Both will focus on IIPI’s quest to help academic, industry and government leaders to adopt the best international IP practices and models for innovation based economic and societal development.

A packed room of at least 200 individuals, including the newly retired Chief Judge Paul Michel, former USPTO Director Q. Todd Dickinson, former USPTO Director Bruce Lehman and others listened to Kappos give an impassioned speech about how innovation can create jobs, how the Patent Office is unfortunately continuing to hold jobs hostage due to a staggering backlog of pending patent applications and how American economic security depends upon development of a comprehensive national IP strategy. I have heard Kappos talk about the job creating power of innovation and the role the USPTO can and should play, but there was something different about his speech today.