Posts Tagged: "Department of Commerce"

With a proposed budget of $7.8 billion and $1 billion in cuts to identify, questions arise about where those cuts will come. Is the USPTO budget safe?Will the cuts be across the board cuts with the USPTO being asked to account for 35% of the $1 billion, which would reduce the USPTO budget to $2.967 billion for FY 2018? According to a chart prepared by the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Association, the largest single fee diversion came in 2011 when $209 million was diverted from the USPTO. If the USPTO must cut its budget by some $350 million that would far and away be the largest single year fee diversion in the history of the U.S. patent system.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking nominations for the 2017 National Medal of Technology and Innovation. The medal is presented each year by the President of the United States and is this country’s highest award for technological achievement. The deadline for nominations is April 7, 2017.

In a shocking revelation, Frank Murphy, Acting Chief Financial Officer, explained that the USPTO has been and will continue to make payments to the Department of Commerce under the shared services initiative, which is now known as “enterprise services.” Not only are these payments to Commerce potentially (or perhaps likely) in violation of the America Invents Act (AIA), but they are being made at a time when the USPTO is suffering revenue shortfalls and is preparing to increase user fees. According to Murphy, the final fees rule will be submitted to the Administration soon, with fee increases likely by September.

Michelle Lee seems to still be Director. She is signing patents and Federal Register Notices, but both Commerce and USPTO decline comment on her status… Presumably at some time we will be told who is the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but until then that information is being protected as if it is a State secret. Information on who is running the USPTO seems to be on a need to know basis and I guess the public just doesn’t need to know.

Sources tell me that the USPTO was prepared last week to issue patents with the signature of Drew Hirshfeld, who is the Commissioner of Patents and seems to be current Acting Director, but at the last minute a decision was made to revert back to Michelle Lee’s signature. This creates several significant problems. First, if Lee is not currently the Director patents that are being issued with her signature are being issued in violation of §153. If we know anything about patent litigators it is that they raise every challenge possible, and it is only a matter of time before the provenance of patents issued during the Trump Administration are challenged as being invalid. I don’t suspect such an invalidity challenge will ultimately prevail, but how many patent owners are going to have to spend many tens of thousands of dollars to fight that challenge?

Although the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues to decline comment on the status of Michelle Lee, as of 3:49pm EST on Monday, January 23, 2017, the Commerce Department staff webpage lists Lee as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. However, the Commerce Department leadership webpage continues to list the position of USPTO Director as “Vacant.” If you click through to Michelle Lee’s staff page on the Commerce website you see that her page was last updated on March 24, 2015.

The first full work week for the Trump Administration begins in earnest today, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues to decline comment on whether or not Michelle Lee is still Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO.

In his opening remarks, Ross noted that he had been a consumer of various forms of data published by various agencies within the commerce department. He seemed attuned to the importance of data collection and dissemination, noting that 40 percent of publicly disseminated data from all federal agencies comes from the Department of Commerce. With experience operating businesses in 23 countries, Ross was confident in his ability to negotiate foreign trade agreements to the benefit of the American economy. “I know directly what’s good and what’s not good about trade policies in other countries,” Ross said. He added that he was neither pro-trade nor anti-trade but rather pro-sensible trade, which he defined as being supportive of trade deals which were good for American workers and businesses.

How much longer can there be no official announcement regarding the status of Michelle Lee? The continued silence raises very serious questions, particularly given that there have been public announcements made regarding others who have been specifically held over to serve in the Trump Administration. Undoubtedly, at some point continued silence about Lee’s status will mature into questions about her authority and whether any actions she takes are legal or perhaps simply void ab initio… If no answer is forthcoming in very short order someone will need to speak up, at least internally, because from the outside the facts give reason to suspect the possibility that a former USPTO Director may be refusing to relinquish power and the rest of the agency is just going along with it.

Last year at this time, I wished for the passage of trade secrets legislation, resolution of the patent reform legislation stalemate in Congress, that the USPTO consider evidence of non-preemption during its initial determination of patent eligibility; and that the USPTO prioritize accuracy, completeness and accessibility of the public record as part of its Patent Quality Review… If a genie were to appear to grant me wishes for 2017, I would ask for two things in particular: First, that the USPTO not change the information printed on the front page of issued patents. Second, that the Commerce Department cease attempts to make the USPTO pay for the shared services initiative.

Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee to run Commerce, has a zero tolerance for IP theft, which indicates a possible change in direction for US patent policy… Ross has a long view on the American economy and has had some exposure to patents. Many of the manufacturing, textile and telecommunications companies he has refinanced owned patents. Ross as the “bankruptcy king” or “vulture capitalist” dealt with patents as one of the many assets to use to help turn around a distressed company. Using patents as collateral for a loan should not be controversial or exotic.