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Secretary of Commerce Announces Interim Leadership for U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
U.S. Secretary
of Commerce Wilbur Ross has named U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Associate Solicitor Joseph Matal to perform the functions and duties of the
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the
USPTO. The position is effective June 7, 2017 and follows the resignation of
Michelle K. Lee. Matal will serve in this role during the nomination and
confirmation process for a new director.
As an Associate
Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal has briefed and argued
appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court, and assisted in the
development of legal positions taken by the U.S. Solicitor General in patent
and copyright cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Matal recently served as
acting Chief of Staff for the agency, and has advised the director on
legislative matters.
Read
the full press release from the Department of Commerce.
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One Year On: Developments in the Protection of Trade Secrets
U.S. businesses own an
estimated $5 trillion worth of trade secrets. Their theft, involving losses in the tens or
possibly hundreds of billions of dollars a year, poses a serious threat to our
nation’s economy. Because the protection of trade secrets — which by their
nature are not patented or publicly disclosed — is critical to the commercial
viability of many U.S. businesses, Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. The law provides
trade secret owners with a federal civil cause of action, rather than limiting
them to state laws or criminal enforcement.
Last
month, one year after enactment of the law, the USPTO convened a public
symposium on “Developments in Trade Secret Protection.” The event brought
together nearly 200 participants, at the USPTO’s headquarters in Alexandria
Virginia, and via live webcast to individuals and the USPTO’s four regional
offices.
Read the blog by
Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs Shira Perlmutter.
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Update on Global Trademark Harmonization
In late May, I attended
the TM5 mid-term meeting in Barcelona hosted by the European Union Intellectual
Property Office (EUIPO). The TM5 is
a strategic cooperation group of the five largest trademark offices in the
world including the USPTO, EUIPO, China (SAIC), Japan (JPO), and Korea (KIPO).
I gave a blog update
last year
on the TM5 meeting we hosted at the USPTO, and I’m happy to report we have
continued making headway this year towards global trademark harmonization.
The TM5 seeks to
facilitate and harmonize trademark filings within its members, as well as other
trademark offices around the world. The work of the TM5 is structured through
cooperative projects designed to improve users’ interactions with national
trademark offices and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
These projects include, among others, the Common Status Descriptors project,
the Identification project, and the Indexing of Non-Traditional Marks project.
Read the blog by Commissioner for
Trademarks Mary Denison.
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Patent Quality Chat – Topic:
Patent Quality Metrics
Deputy Commissioner for Patent
Quality Valencia Martin Wallace held the sixth Patent Quality Chat in the 2017 webinar series on June
5 on Patent Quality Metrics.
Speakers Greg Vidovich, Associate Commissioner for Patent Quality and Jim Dwyer, Director, Office of
Patent Quality Assurance, discussed the latest evolution of our patent quality metrics that
divides them into (1) product indicators, focusing on correctness and clarity,
(2) process indicators, tracking efficiency and consistency, and (3) perception
indicators, used to validate our first two indicators. Additionally, metrics
from the first half of fiscal year 2017 were shared.
Patent Quality Chat is a monthly, lunchtime
webinar series designed to provide information on patent quality topics and
gather your input. The next
Patent Quality Chat will be held on July 11 and will discuss the latest updates
in USPTO's Work Sharing Efforts.
To learn more about the June Patent Quality Chat, watch the
archived video or view the presentation
slides.
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