Patent Law

Heritage of the Heretic

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

In the ultimate backfire, political hack Jon Dudas has left his mark on the patent office. Dudas demeaned the PTO by being openly hostile to its bread-and-butter clientele, patent applicants, with proposed rules that would limit claims and even applications, in a banal attempt to address pendency. Challenged by Dr. Triantafyllos Tafas, with GlaxoSmithKline riding shotgun, the district court shot the agency down. The PTO appealed.

In a muddled decision, a CAFC panel partly reversed, which lead to an en banc appeal. Under the new leadership of a more sensible David Kappos, the agency withdrew the odious proposed rules, and asked the appeals court to wipe the slate clean. En banc, the CAFC put the boot to an appeal now moot, but denied the PTO's motion to vacate the district court decision, which Tafas opposed, leaving the district court ruling standing. That means that there is precedent to proscribe the agency from pulling such a wild-eyed rule shenanigan again, the next time some heavy-handed moron is propped in the Director's chair. More immediately, that also leaves the door open for Tafas to seek recouping his costs.

For an account of this sordid affair sans bite marks, read Kevin E. Noonan. For a tidier clean version, read Prof. Dennis Crouch.

Dudas now parks his political savvy at the impenitently politically correct firm of Foley & Lardner.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on November 15, 2009 (boomark / email).