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Patent Office Director Michelle Lee Has Resigned

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @02:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the fighting-against-the-tide-is-tiring dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

TechDirt reports

[...] The past few USPTO directors had been cut from the "more patents is always a good thing" mold, whereas Lee actually recognized that bad patents harmed innovation. And even though the last time the Patent Office got concerned about bad patents it allowed the patent approval backlog to fill up, under Lee the backlog has reached its lowest point in a decade.[paywall]

[...] For all the craziness going on in the government right now, having competent leadership at the USPTO would be one less thing to worry about. But... now it's being reported that Lee has suddenly resigned and sent a goodbye email to staff. That's bad news on the patent front.

Of course, it may be ages before any new director is appointed. As I type this, of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump hasn't even named a nominee for 431 of them. [...] Adding the new USPTO director to that pile may mean no new USPTO director for.... who the hell knows how long.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:16PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:16PM (#522188)

    My point remains: without patents, the drugs would never have been discovered.

    One word: USSR. They did discover some number of drugs there, all without anything resembling USA-style patents.

    This is a knock-down argument.

    Yeah. Also known as "a blatant lie".

  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday June 08 2017, @10:28AM (1 child)

    by Wootery (2341) on Thursday June 08 2017, @10:28AM (#522516)

    We're discussing market forces' impact on for-profit drugs-research, and you mention the USSR? Really?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 08 2017, @04:21PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 08 2017, @04:21PM (#522650)

      Interesting fight here. It's like half strawman on one side against half bailey-vs-motte on the other.

      Carry on.