"[Y]ou're creating a new 20-year monopoly for no good reason."
--David Kappos, former Director of the USPTO
Summary: The latest examples of Andrei Iancu and David Kappos (current and former USPTO Directors, respectively) found 'in bed' with the patent microcosm (like the disgraced Judge Rader and unlike Michelle Lee, whom the patent microcosm constantly smeared to eventually oust)
THE EPO scandals are many. Too many to count. There's danger, however, that similar scandals will spread to the US (we wrote about some appointments by nepotism recently, including the CIO and the new chief, whose firm used to work for Donald Trump).
Here's the latest gossip from the Office. It's less than a day old. It's about Pam Isom, who is said to have hired her nephew by marriage:
https://twitter.com/CIO_Watchdog/status/983702339730190336
https://twitter.com/CIO_Watchdog/status/983742341105188865
According to these "Highlights" (highlighted by
Managing IP on Tuesday), the
USPTO's Director spoke at a Microsoft-sponsored propaganda event/think tank, Fordham IP. He is in bed with bad people. He will soon speak at an event of IAM, the patent trolls' lobby. A day earlier we saw him mentioned in
this programme. It seems rather inappropriate for the USPTO to allow its Director to be lobbied quite so blatantly by AIPLA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce considering what both stand for. But here they go:
The program, which will focus on the impact of U.S. patent policy on the domestic innovation ecosystem, will include a keynote address by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu and a fireside chat with U.S. Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore.
Notice who's attending.
Meanwhile,
David Kappos rears his ugly head again, this time in his capacity as a rogue lobbyist with connections. How much are these former USPTO Directors paid to lobby for software patents? Do they charge per day/hour? Or do they just rally corporate sponsors to give them lots of money? Kappos has a front group with corporate sponsors now.
What about "Activist" Judge Michel? Is he not really retired? He keeps popping up everywhere, hypocritically accusing SCOTUS Justices (higher level than he ever was in his career) of being "activists". As
this new tweet quotes him (with a photo of him sitting next to Kappos): "Judge Michel: Activist Supreme Court judges are dictating national economic policy through their interpretation of the Patent Act. If I were Congress I wouldn’t put up with it!"
This comes from an event that Watchtroll too
wrote about on Tuesday, under the headline
"It is already too late, but we still have time" (time for what? Bashing judges?)
Paul Michel and David Kappos were there alongside the patent microcosm, which is pretty revealing. There was also someone there for "activist" politician Christopher Coons, who is trying to derail patent reform. To quote:
“It is surprising that we continue to make the same mistakes that we have made over the last several hundred years,” said Judge O’Malley as she opened the panel, which included Chief Judge Paul Michel (CAFC, ret.), David Kappos (former Director of the USPTO), venture capitalist Gary Lauder, Managing Director of Lauder Partners, and Jamie Simpson, USPTO Detailee to the Senate Judiciary Committee for Senate Christopher Coons.
Does the USPTO even care to realise how bad it looks when former officials join the lobbying industry and the current Director gives talks at events of think tanks? Even those that front for patent trolls? Michelle Lee almost never did such foolish things, yet the patent microcosm tried to frame her as the "scandalous" one.
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