Posts Tagged: "john doll"

Yet another high profile senior level management position has been filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the trend of qualified “get it” people continues.  Rob Clarke, who is currently the Director of the Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA), has been asked by Director David Kappos to become the new USPTO Chief of Staff.  I know…

I have been saying for months that the logical thing would be for John Doll to retire, and earlier today the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced that after 35 years at the USPTO, Commissioner for Patents John Doll has announced his intention to retire from the agency on October 2, 2009. The retirement announcement also comes with an…

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…

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…

On Monday, July 6, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (minus Judge Lourie who did not participate in the poll of judges) decided to rehear the claims and continuations rule challenge of Tafas and GlaxoSmithKline en banc.  Additionally, the CAFC has vacated the panel decision that awarded a victory to the USPTO.  The date of…

Admittedly, the selection of an Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, a post that also carries the title of Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is not as important in the greater scheme of things as many of the other posts President Obama has had to fill.  Having said that, given the unique and real challenges facing…

Earlier today I heard a rumor from an exceptionally reliable source regarding the United States Patent and Trademark Office efforts to reform patent quality review.  Quality review, or QR for short, has become an anchor around the neck of patent examiners, and more than any other single issue has lead to the astronomical backlog of patent applications now facing the…

On March 2, 2009, the Practising Law Institute kicked off the Third Annual Patent Law Institute at its New York City headquarters.  The West Coast version of this live program started today and will conclude tomorrow, live at the California offices of PLI in downtown San Francisco, CA.  Right about now the participants are probably seeing a video of Robert Clarke,…

One week ago today I posted an article titled Change in Patent Office Philosophy Can Lead Recovery.  In the little more than a full week that this article has been available it has been viewed 640 times, which makes it popular for a patent article but nothing nearly as popular as, for example, Obama Wants Open Source IT Solutions for…

John Doll has wasted no time moving forward to try and put his stamp on the United States Patent Office.  One week ago today Doll, who became Acting Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office when Jon Dudas resigned, announced in the Federal Register that the USPTO will hold a…

There have been many rumors about the impending resignation about Jon Dudas, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property appointed by President Bush in 2004.  Patently-O announced on January 6, 2009, that Dudas would be stepping down by mid-January, which does not appear to have happened.  What is clear, however, is that President Obama has not yet chosen a new…