Posts Tagged: "robert clarke"

Behind the Scenes: The USPTO Senior Staff

On July 19, 2010, I was granted behind the scenes access to observe the United States Patent and Trademark Office. From 11am to 7pm I trailed David Kappos, the Undersecretary for Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. My hosts for the day were primarily Peter Pappas, Chief Communications Officer and Senior Advisor to Kappos, and one of his top lieutenants, Jennifer Rankin Byrne. As I went through the day I met members of the Senior Staff, some of whom I already knew and others who I was meeting for the first time, and sat in on a series of meetings with Director Kappos. In this part, Part 3 of the series, I will profile those Senior Staff members and high ranking lieutenants with whom I interacted with during my day at the USPTO.

Gene Quinn

August 4, 2010

Lots of Support at Patent Office Three Track Public Meeting

All in all I would characterize the mood of the PTO officials I spoke with as up-beat and the mood of the stakeholders in attendance was generally positive, but with reservations about the mechanics of Track 3. After the event I too would be upbeat if I were among the senior ranks at the USPTO. Those aspects that were viewed as negative or needing more work or clarification seemed few, were identified over and over again and should be addressable. That being the case it seems the majority of the proposal is acceptable and the community remains hungry for these types of creative initiatives, which sadly is all we have given that Congress continues to be AWOL on even relatively meaningless reforms, let alone reforms that could actually do some real good.

Gene Quinn

July 21, 2010

Rob Clarke Named New USPTO Chief of Staff

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…

Gene Quinn

September 17, 2009

Patent Academy Closing, USPTO Budget Crisis Deepening?

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,…

Gene Quinn

March 23, 2009