Posts Tagged: "David Kappos"

Nominations: Deputy Commish for Patent Examination Policy

Lets be perfectly clear, the Patent Office does not call me and ask my input regarding anything, which should be readily apparent to those who read IPWatchdog.com regularly.  Had the Patent Office done so, and actually taken my suggestions to heart the Department of Justice would not have needed to ask the Federal Circuit to hold off on taking the…

Deputy for Patent Exam Policy: The Devil is in the Details

We argue, hour by hour, day by day, about large issues of morality and ethics and discuss how to make our nation “green”. We discuss large high-level issues like “should we have a public option for healthcare?”, but we give less attention to the details regarding what such an option might look like. Similarly, in the patent system, the public…

More Work, Less Money for the PTO is a BIG Problem

Something came up in the comments to a post earlier today and I want to address it and definitively debunk the rewriting of history that seems to already be started with respect to who is to blame for the problems of the patent system.  The question arises with respect to whether the Patent Office has created their own mess by…

Awaiting Kappos’ Decision on Claims and Continuations

On Thursday, August 13, 2009, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke conducted a ceremonial swearing-in of Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. In his remarks before thousands of employees on the USPTO campus, Secretary Locke said “David is taking on a big job… Promoting and protecting U.S. inventions, innovation and creativity directly…

Accelerated Exam in Inequitable Conduct Friendly Era

The United States Patent Office announced on March 13, 2007 that it had just issued the first patent granted under the then newly minted accelerated examination program, which was first brought into effect in August of 2006. The patent in question, , U.S. Patent No. 7,188,939, was granted to Brother International, Ltd. from an application filed on September 29, 2006,…

David Kappos Confirmed as USPTO Director

With no notice to the public, and after the Senate was reported to have adjourned for their August recess, on Friday, August 7, 2009, David Kappos was confirmed as Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. While I applaud the quick action by the Senate to get Kappos confirmed, I must…

Kappos Nomination Unanimously Forwarded to Full Senate

Earlier today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of David Kappos, former Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for IBM, to be Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, a job that also comes with the title of Director of the Patent and Trademark Office.  The vote in the Judiciary Committee was unanimous, with all Democrats and Republicans…

David Kappos Shines at Senate Confirmation Hearing

To start the confirmation proceedings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced David Kappos this morning with a lengthy and impressive recitation of Kappos’ credentials and experience.  He started out with IBM as an engineer after graduating with highest honors from the University of California Davis with a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and moved to…

Patent Reform Dead Now and for the Future

Once upon a time I used to not get worked up at all about proposals for patent reform, because after all they almost always didn’t seem to go through, or even if they did what was passed was hardly what was suggested. Then, my good friend John White told me several years ago that this time patent reform was going to…

Kappos Senate Hearing Scheduled for July 29, 2009

The Senate Judiciary Committee has announced that the confirmation hearing for David Kappos, who is President Barack Obama’s nominee to be Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, will be held on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:00 am Eastern Time in the in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen…

Help Arrives! Nick Godici Returns to Patent Office

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke yesterday announced the appointment of former USPTO official and long-time patent professional Nicholas P. Godici as a special advisor to the USPTO.  On announcing the return of Godici, Secretary Locke said: “I’m counting on Nick to use his decades of experience to help us strengthen the management of the USPTO and identify the areas most…

President Obama Intends to Appoint Kappos as PTO Head

UPDATED: 8:42pm ET At some point in time today, presumably after I nominated Alfred E. Neuman for PTO Director, President Obama announced that he intends to appoint David Kappos as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, a position that will make him the Director of the USPTO.  It was predictable that word of the nomination, or iminent nomination, would…

Obama Administration Tackling Patent Backlog

Even before President Obama announces his selection for Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, a post known by those in the industry as the Director of the Patent Office, senior level management Officials inside the Patent Office are beginning to take real and concrete steps to address the enormous backlog of cases that was allowed to build under the stewardship…

IBM Seeks Patent on Time Management of Meetings

Last week an IBM patent application covering an allegedly unique system and method for enhancing productivity.  I typically do not get interested in the bizarre, wacky, ridiculous patent applications that are published because all that is required to have a patent application published is the filing of something, no matter how ridiculous, and the payment of the filing fee.  My…

Obama Pledges 3% of GDP to Science Research

Just about 10 days ago, on April 27, 2009, President Barack Obama gave a speech at the National Academy of Sciences.  In this speech the President pledged “3 percent of our GDP to research and development.”  With a GDP of $14,075.5 billion, that would equate to research spending of $422 billion.  As  you can imagine, this announcement was received with…