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Law Offices of David L. Hoffman
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"PREDICTABLE
PRICES FOR UNPREDICTABLE PATENT PROBLEMS"
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IP Strategy Newsletter
August 2009
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FORMER IBM PATENT COUNSEL TO RUN PATENT OFFICE
Recently the
Senate confirmed David Kappos as the new
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). Kappos is IBM's former intellectual property
counsel.
There is no
doubt that Kappos has the knowledge to head
the PTO. I think the issue is: can someone with ties to IBM,
very large business, run the PTO in a manner that is fair to smaller
businesses and individual inventors. Our country's economy is
driven in large part by small business, often starting with an
individual inventor who obtained patent protection on his/her
idea. A patent helps level the playing field and encourages
investment in smaller business.
In the last
five years or so, the courts have been increasingly hostile to
patents. And, the patent office followed suit. Then we
hit a strong recession. I can't tell you that there is a
correlation, but it is my opinion that the recession would not have
been nearly as bad had the courts and patent office remained pro
patent, and thus promoted smaller businesses.
Sincerely,
David Hoffman
Law Offices of David L. Hoffman
28494 Westinghouse Place, Suite 204
Valenica, California 91355
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Tip
of the Month
Protect Your
Clients' Trade Secrets: Trade secrets can be extremely valuable, even
more valuable than patents, e.g., the formula for CokeŽ. Make
sure that your clients' have a confidentiality term in their
agreements with their employees, independent contractors, and
vendors.
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