""These positions are irreconcilable: the Office cannot claim patent value is unknowable while also proposing to levy fees based on that value." - Thomas Krause letter to Senate Judiciary Committee"
"In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, former Deputy General Counsel for IP and Solicitor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Thomas Krause, urged the Senate to quickly confirm John Squires as USPTO Director to end what he called the "unaccountable governance" of the Office by Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart. Krause took the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) " fork in the road" offer earlier this year after 23 years with the USPTO."
"Krause sent the Committee another letter in May strongly opposing Squires' confirmation. In that 49-page letter, he laid out the reasons Squires' answers to questions during his nomination hearing would be bad for the modern economy, particularly policies he articulated that would make existing patents stronger. But in his more recent letter, he explained: "My concerns about Mr. Squires have not changed. What's changed is that the USPTO's current acting leadership, rather than 'stay the course' until Mr. Squires is confirmed, is pursuing an aggressive and probably unlawful patent-maximalist agenda that no politically accountable leader would dream of implementing.""
Acting USPTO Director Coke Morgan Stewart has implemented an interim workload management process that has produced hundreds of Director Discretionary Denial decisions, most denying institution of inter partes reviews (IPRs). John Squires remains a contested nominee for USPTO Director, with earlier submissions raising concerns that his proposed policies would strengthen existing patents. The Office is proposing fee changes tied to patent value while also asserting patent value is unknowable. Critics describe the current interim approach as aggressive and patent-maximalist and call for a politically accountable, confirmed director to restore governance and policy clarity.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
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