Election punditry on Patent Reform

VoteFrom IP Law360

“A Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday could deal a blow to broadly criticized efforts by the [USPTO] to change continuing applications procedures, observers say.”

The article only cites an unnamed former PTO official as its source. 

Although my old law school professor (Barack Obama) is not running this term, this is still an important election. Get out and vote. 

15 thoughts on “Election punditry on Patent Reform

  1. 15

    Actually, I view my first sentence as the one that is provocative. Consider who has the responsibility for implementing the laws, and then reflect on who actually implements them.

  2. 14

    “BTW, harmonization of patent and copyright terms as you note might be a useful endeavor, as well as lowering filing fees to reflect those for copyright registration.”

    In that case, maybe they should be harmonizing patent law and copyright across the board, i.e. have a fair use exception for patent infringement just like in copyright…

  3. 13

    MM…

    Better yet, perhaps we should move the PTO from the executive branch to the legislative branch, as is the case with copyrights.

    BTW, harmonization of patent and copyright terms as you note might be a useful endeavor, as well as lowering filing fees to reflect those for copyright registration.

  4. 12

    “Let’s see if he could do for patent law what he did for copyright (DMCA).”

    100 year patent terms!!!

  5. 11

    Oh good, Berman is chair of the IP committee. Let’s see if he could do for patent law what he did for copyright (DMCA).

  6. 10

    “PTO pulls back rules packages in anticipation of Congressional oversight hearings.”

    I assume this is what will happen.

  7. 9

    Does anyone wish to speculate whether:

    PTO rushes continuation and claim limit rule packages out before new Congress arrives

    or

    PTO pulls back rules packages in anticipation of Congressional oversight hearings.

  8. 8

    Berman was the ranking member, and re-elected in a landslide. I imagine that he would now take over as chair, unless someone has conflicting information?

  9. 7

    OK, now that the Democrats have taken the House of Representatives, does anyone know who we can expect to be the relevant committee chair come January?

  10. 6

    As I understand the article Dennis quotes, the power (wuch as it is) that the current crop of PTO officials has been using to push these “reforms” stems from their contacts with once-powerful Republican members of Congress – for instance, Director Dudas worked on the House impeachment committee. The pundits have been saying all night that a Democratic House will wield oversight and subpoena power over the actions of the Executive branch, and the thought is that PTO officials will be less likely to push through ill-advised schemes such as the continuation debacle in the face of Congressional scrutiny.

    And, on another point, Obama isn’t that old, Dennis.

  11. 5

    If the House changes control, the Chair of the subcommittee that handles intellectual property will change. The democrat who would take control is well-known for his pro individual inventor stance. Since there has been considerable debate as to whether the change in continuation practice and the limitation on claims are constitutional/permitted by the patent statutes, the associations representing individual inventors could easily get the new chair to conduct hearings into the proposed rules. If nothing else, it would be another chance to make the administration look stupid and maybe back off.

  12. 4

    “What in the world does the election have to do with the PTO rulechanges?”

    One could have asked a similarly naive question in 2004: “What in the world does the election have to do with what scientists at NASA say about the Big Bang?”

    The answer is that the quality and integrity of political appointees varies somewhat according to political party, particularly when one political party allows itself to be dominated by certain religious types who pay more attention to cronyism, revelation, and pre-medieval aphorisms than to trivialities like “evidence.”

    If you don’t believe me, look up the names “George Deutsch,” “Michael D. Brown,” and “Harriet Myers.” Just for starters.

    This relationship between the Republican party and the current administration at the PTO is set forth quite plainly in the article, I thought.

  13. 3

    This is probably not an accurate statement by IP360. However, given the propensity of know-nothings both in and out of the PTO to bloviate about and initiate “patent reforms,” it is probably symbolic of the times in which we IP practitioners live.

  14. 2

    Okay, I guess I will ask the stupid question. What in the world does the election have to do with the PTO rulechanges? Patent reform is so far from the radar for issues this election, I just don’t see the correlation. The PTO officials, unless I am mistaken, are appointed by the White House, which is not up for grabs…

    Are there democrats out there that just love the current continuation system and have a strong desire to see it continue? Could anyone that is not on the IP subcommittee even explain what a continuation is?

  15. 1

    Dennis

    I just want to say thank you for your blog. I am a paralegal in Intellectual Property, and I enjoy your issues and discussions in this area of law. I find the comments to be lively, intellectual and witty…..I mean really, who would think that patent attorneys would have such a great sense of humor.

    Thanks for your hard work, I will continue to be an avid fan.

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