Last Thursday, the Senate confirmed John Squires as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO.), advancing him alongside a slate of 47 other Trump Administration nominees in a single vote under the so-called “nuclear option.” His confirmation process may have been straightforward, but the road ahead is anything but.
Director Squires steps into the role at a time when the USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO. faces some of its most serious operational and policy challenges in years, particularly around examination quality and the agency’s willingness to uphold its own legally-mandated review processes. With recent changes under interim leadership lowering the quality of issued patents and setting IP abuse protection back in troubling ways, Squires inherits an office in need of urgent course correction. We hope and expect that he will take seriously his commitment to promoting patent examination quality (which he articulated during his confirmation hearing) and begin the work of restoring much-needed integrity at the agency to win back the confidence of American innovators.
That work should start in earnest with a reversal of the changes implemented under interim USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO. leadership over the past several months. The agency has re-expanded discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTABPatent Trial and Appeal Board. Reviews adverse decisions of examiners on written appeals of applicants and appeals of reexaminations, and conducts inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews. The Board also continues to decide patent interferences, as it was known as the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) before the AIA.), gutted inter partes review (IPRIntellectual Property Rights. Usually associated with formal legal rights such as patent, trademark, and copyright. Intellectual property is a broader term that encompasses knowledge, information, and data considered proprietary whether or not it is formally protected.), and concentrated unilateral decision-making power in the Director’s hands—often skirting statutory requirements to do so in the process. These moves have dismantled the best recourse available to challenge improperly granted patents, and if Squires is serious about patent quality, he’ll roll them back and restore the access to post-grant reviewA procedure by which a third-party may contest issuance of a patent at the USPTO within a short period (9 months) after issuance. Introduced to the U.S. by the AIA. The EPO has a similar procedure. mandated by the statute Congress passed more than a decade ago.
A slightly less contentious, but just as challenging, area where Squires must act quickly is on the “front-end” of the patent issuance process, where the Government Accountability Office recently found “persistent examination and quality challenges” that have resulted in a steady stream of improperly granted patents. During his confirmation hearing, Squires said he wants patents to be “born strong.” Delivering on that promise will require giving examiners the time and resources they need in order to make accurate validity determinations.
Director Squires now has a unique opportunity to return the agency to its core mission of promoting U.S. innovators and innovation, though not without serious headwinds. That begins with restoring confidence in the USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO. by ensuring it is operating within the confines of the law, protecting access to IPRIntellectual Property Rights. Usually associated with formal legal rights such as patent, trademark, and copyright. Intellectual property is a broader term that encompasses knowledge, information, and data considered proprietary whether or not it is formally protected., and improving the quality of patent examination and thereby of issued patents.
These challenges come in the context of the patent system being repeatedly, and somewhat unusually, being thrust into national headlines. USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. See also PTO. issues like dramatic changes to the structure of fees, taxing university IP revenue, and efforts to strip collective bargaining rights from patent examiners surfaced in broader policy debates. Between these high-profile changes and the likely intra-agency tensions around patent review policy, Squires will have his work cut out for him.
