Bonum Certa Men Certa

Yes, Michelle Lee is Still in Charge of the US Patent Office, in Spite of the Patent Microcosm's Endless Attacks on Her

Michelle K. Lee
Reference: Wikipedia (as of minutes ago)



Summary: In spite of many attacks on Michelle Lee -- all of which courtesy of rude patent maximalists -- she remains in charge of the Office and we wish her continued success in that role

SINCE the beginning of this year we have seen many false rumours about Michelle Lee. Evil tongues had been attempting to brew a scandal out of nothing, or simply ended up spreading misinformation so as to promote and usher in corrupt people like Rader into Lee's position. This served to remind us just how disgusting, cruel and dirty our opposition (idealogical or professional) really is.



"It should be widely recognised that patents are a time-limited monopoly but not a property."According to this update from one with many connection in and around the USPTO, "Michelle Lee appears to still be leading the PTO and again signed this week’s patents." That has been the case for quite a while, in spite of Watchtroll's fake news and perpetual attack pieces on the Director of the USPTO, Michelle Lee ([1, 2, 3, 4]. Are they really so eager to alienate themselves, casting themselves as enemies of the system? Because that's just what they are accomplishing. "Meanwhile," as Patently-O put it today, "Michelle Lee appears to still be leading the PTO and again signed this week’s patents. A somewhat odd and steady steady drumbeat from several sources has been demanding Michelle Lee’s resignation or removal. Lee has acted in pro-patent-applicant ways in several respects. Notably, she has issued more patents per year than any other USPTO director in history; acted to limit the much of the impact of the Supreme Court’s Alice/Mayo on patents being prosecuted (except in the business method area); and has substantially reduced patent application pendency. The calls for her removal, however, appear to be coming from the PTO’s new role as arbiter of patent disputes at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Still, during her tenure, the PTAB has been somewhat tamed as compared to its initial cancellation pace under Director Kappos. The problem largely seems to be that Lee has not been an outspoken advocate of patents-as-property."

That last part about "patents-as-property" (a term that Crouch has been using a lot lately) is pure nonsense and we wrote about this recently. It should be widely recognised that patents are a time-limited monopoly but not a property. Things that are intangible are a mere concept, so calling them property is misleading and rather ingenuous. Watch today's MIP article about Taiwan, where people are apparently being compelled to pay the toll several times over, paying tax on imaginary things! To quote the key part (the rest is mostly behind a paywall anyway): "Christopher M Neumeyer reviews the lessons to be learned from two recent cases where Taiwan companies were ordered to pay taxes on licensing fees paid to a foreign licensor" (the flow of money here makes no sense at all, for numerous reasons).

"The one thing that the patent microcosm really hates right now is PTAB, and a lot of these patent maximalists view Lee as PTAB's enabler or embodiment; that's why they want her ousted, by any means possible (even lies, distortions and conspiracy theories)."The above from Patently-O also mentions PTAB, referring to the (in our opinion) corrupt David Kappos, who now receives money from large corporations in order to pull strings and lobby the Office he once led. Lee actually managed to get PTAB to work effectively and quickly, to the point where it eliminated thousands of patents and received the Federal Circuit's consent almost all the time. In one of the rare cases (about one in five) where CAFC does not agree with PTAB it not necessarily reverses but often just nullifies a decision. Patently-O has just covered one such decision, noting: "In a new pair of decisions, the Federal Circuit has again rejected the PTAB’s obviousness findings as inadequate and remanded for further proceedings. As she has done in the past, Judge Newman agreed with the merits dissented from the remand – arguing that the challenger should not be so freely given what amounts to a new trial."

The one thing that the patent microcosm really hates right now is PTAB, and a lot of these patent maximalists view Lee as PTAB's enabler or embodiment; that's why they want her ousted, by any means possible (even lies, distortions and conspiracy theories). To them, ends justify nefarious means. Reformers, as in those looking for reformist changes in the patent system (Lee repeatedly spoke of her displeasure at the sight of trolls, i.e. the very opposite of Rader) need to get involved and help protect Lee from these literary thugs, who sometimes send letters to officials, using terms like "swamp" in reference to Lee (not necessarily because she looks 'foreign' and is of the gender that Donald Trump belittles).

Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Garden Season Starts Today
Outdoor time, officially...
More Information About Public Talks That Richard Stallman Gave This Week in Europe
Two talks in Switzerland
Engadget is Still a Spamfarm, It's Just an Amazon Catalogue (SPAM/SEO), a Sea of Junk Disguised as "Articles" With Few 'Fillers' (Real Articles) in Between
Engadget writes for bots now, not for humans
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries