"On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Senate held a series of votes that teed up the confirmation vote for John Squires to serve as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), along with 47 other Trump Administration nominees, as part of Senate Republicans' exercise of the "nuclear option" for confirmations recently approved by Senate rulemaking. Squires will take the helm of the USPTO following months of largely patent-friendly PTAB reforms established by Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart,"
"Although generally viewed as pro-patent and pro-innovation, Squires raised some concerns among the inventor community by focusing on the high error rate of patent issuance as reflected by claims cancelled through inter partes review (IPR) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Squires told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a confirmation hearing this May that a 68% rate of patents found defective in IPR reflected efforts that the agency must undertake to improve patent quality."
John Squires was teed up for Senate confirmation to serve as USPTO Director alongside other nominees after Senate Republicans used a rulemaking change enabling quicker confirmations. Squires will assume leadership following months of largely patent-friendly PTAB reforms established under Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart. Reported efforts to create fee frameworks based on patent valuation have undercut optimism from those reforms. Squires' nomination occurred earlier in the political cycle than is typical for incoming USPTO Directors. Squires emphasized improving patent quality, citing a 68% rate of patents found defective in inter partes review and advocating for patents to be "born strong."
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]