New USPTO Director Andrei Iancu testified in Congress on April 18 for the first time in his new official capacity -- this time before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Director must certainly be a visionary -- as the chief guide of U.S. intellectual property policy. At the same time, the Director is head of a multi-billion-dollar agency with 12,000+ employees.
Although not speaking for the Senate as a whole, Senator Coons kicked-off the hearing with a statement that AIA Trials: "The current review system is systematically biased against patent owners." From Senator Coon's perspective, the AIA was designed to give the USPTO Director authority to "fine-tune" the AIA trial proceedings without further congressional actions -- and that Director Iancu should take this opportunity to correct the imbalance.
One key statement from Director Iancu is that he is ready to work with Congress on legislative solutions to the "uncertainty" created by Supreme Court 101 jurisprudence.
The following is the Director's Opening Statement:
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