The USPTO’s Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) is charged with reviewing the “policies, goals, performance, budget, and fees” of the USPTO. The PPAC tends to work closely with USPTO upper management, including the director. PPAC members are public officials and are also paid by the government for their services at a rate well above my salary.
Although the PPAC serves only an advisory role, its members do have a direct-line to the PTO director that is mandated by statute. Folks with particular concerns may do well to contact the members directly. Since the USPTO does not offer contact-information for these officials, so I thought I would do so here.
Current PPAC Members:
- Marc Adler, former Chief IP Counsel at Rohm & Haas, now an independent consultant. [Contact].
- Louis Foreman, product designer, inventor, and author. [Contact].
- F. Scott Kieff, professor at GWU Law School and Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. [Contact].
- Damon Matteo, IP director (intellectual capital management) at the Palo Alto Reserach Center (parc). [Contact].
- Steve Pinkos, former Deputy PTO Director, now a lobbyist and IP Advisor. [Contact].
- Maureen Toohey, Patent attorney at her own law firm (Toohey Law Group). [Contact].