Summary: Philip Johnson, a "patent extremist", becomes the new head of the monopolies office, showing that nothing is going to improve any time soon

IF YOU thought David Kappos (software patents booster) was bad, wait until you meet the new head of the USPTO. The White House has just defended the USPTO from SCOTUS (against patents on "abstract" ideas) by putting what one writer called "patent extremist" in charge (not to be confused with the judge):

The selection of Philip Johnson, the head of intellectual property at Johnson & Johnson, is being resisted by tech industry groups as he is best known for spending years to halt against any effort to change the way patents are submitted and approved. The appointment of Johnson contradicts Obama’s stand against lobbyist in Washington as well as his promise to bring patent reforms. Appointment of Johnson would be the same kind of mistake that Obama made by appointing lobbyists for the cable industry Tom Wheeler as the head of FCC. Wheeler is all determined to kill the Internet and give the cable companies unprecedented control of the internet.

The USPTO was bad enough as it was, approving almost every patent application. The new leadership is against any kind of reform:

White House poised to name patent reform opponent as new head of Patent Office

The Obama Administration’s expected choice to lead the Patent Office is a Johnson & Johnson lawyer who has been a key figure in blocking attempts to reform the patent system.

'Hope' for the protectionists and 'Change' for no-one other than corporations, which the high US court now deems "people". Welcome to crony patent regime. It's getting worse over time. ⬆