President Trump and the Patent Office
Patent – Patently-O 2016-11-13
The question on everyone’s mind is how the patent office and patent system will be restructured once Donald Trump becomes president. Trump has substantial personal experience protecting and enforcing his own trademarks, including attempts to protect more controversial marks such as ‘you’re fired.’ However his businesses have few if any patent rights and have relied on the perception of luxury rather than innovation for their successes. An element of Trumps campaign was the recognition that he personally understands how to find an exploit loopholes in government regulation and that his experience make him uniquely qualified to fix the holes. Question for the patent system is whether president Trump will see patent trolls, pharmaceutical pricing, and the Eastern District of Texas as exploitations needing to be fixed. It is unclear at this point who will manage the transition team but hope for a smooth transition from Outgoing Director Michelle Lee to the next USPTO leader. Democracy!