Posts in Interviews & Conversations

New Clause 8 Episode: Andrei Iancu – From Communist Romania to USPTO Director

At the beginning of this year, IPWatchdog asked a panel of experts who should be the next USPTO Director. Almost every answer cited former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu as a model. Former Deputy USPTO Director Russ Slifer wrote: “Director Iancu worked with Congress and did not shy away from necessary reforms in Section 101 and the PTAB. Will the next Director be as successful? Hopefully, but Director Iancu is a difficult act to follow.” At the beginning of this year, IPWatchdog asked a panel of experts who should be the next USPTO Director. Almost every answer cited former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu as a model.

PTAB Masters™ Day Four Features Judge Michel on How the PTAB is Working: ‘When Facts Change, Views Should Change’

The final day of IPWatchdog’s PTAB Masters™ 2021 program kicked off with more than 1,070 registrants and a discussion featuring retired U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Chief Judge Paul Michel, Meredith Addy of AddyHart, and IPWatchdog Founder and CEO Gene Quinn about the many obstacles facing patentees today in light of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and an overburdened Federal Circuit. Michel said that, a decade after the America Invents Act (AIA) was passed, with the real-world knowledge we now have of the PTAB, “conclusions and practices should change in light of experience. When facts change, views should change.”

Kappos at PTAB Masters™ Day Two: PTAB Problems Arose When It Failed to Evolve

The second day of IPWatchdog’s PTAB Masters™ 2021: “Winning at the PTAB” featured a keynote interview with former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director David Kappos, who was at the helm of the agency when the America Invents Act (AIA) was passed. As part of the AIA, Kappos was tasked with developing rules to implement the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and related post grant proceedings, and was chiefly focused on adhering to the unprecedented timelines set for those proceedings in the AIA. “The PTO had never been given strict timelines before,” explained Kappos. “I felt the gravity; I thought, ‘if the public is going to respect the PTO and patents, we have to get on top of the timeframes.’ [I told my team] the goal is going to be to implement within the timeframes 100% of the time.”

PTAB Masters™ 2021, Day One: How Iancu Tried to Repair a ‘Damaged Brand’

While steps taken under former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Andrei Iancu to restore equilibrium at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) have improved a bad situation to some extent, in many ways the damage has been done, said IPWatchdog founder and CEO Gene Quinn during a keynote interview with Iancu earlier today, on day one of the PTAB Masters ™ 2021: Winning at the PTAB Series. “It felt sometimes like the PTAB was making it up as they went along,” said Quinn to Iancu. “It eroded the confidence of patent owners. I do think it’s getting to be more of an equilibrium, but it’s a damaged brand.”

A Conversation with Cloudflare Co-Founder Michelle Zatlyn on the Future of the Internet and the Role of IP

The IP Tech Summit, researched and produced by Premier Cercle, took place virtually this year, on December 3-4, and focused on new intellectual property strategies for open innovation and digital transformation. As part of the summit, IPWatchdog Founder and CEO Gene Quinn conducted a Fireside Chat with Cloudflare Co-Founder and COO, Michelle Zatlyn, who said that we are presently in a critical phase of the internet’s development and have an opportunity to redefine it to make it work. But—if we act too quickly—we could potentially go backwards.

How Patents Helped Sprout the World’s First Plantable Pencil

It has likely been a while since most of even used a pencil – but would we use them more if they grew flowers, trees and herbs? Enter, Sprout World, a company founded on the concept of sustainability that credits patents as playing a large part in its success. In late 2012, Michael Stausholm, the company’s founder, happened upon a Kickstarter campaign launched by three MIT students for a pencil one could use and then plant in the ground to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables and even trees. “I saw it and thought it was a wonderful idea,” Stausholm says. “I had been working in sustainability for many years and everyone was talking about it, but what was it actually? The pencil was a wonderful way of illustrating the concept.”