Patent Law

Aharonian will oppose a nomination of Winters as USPTO director

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Should Winters be appointed, a lawsuit against her nomination will be filed by Gregory Aharonian, a patent analyst who was the lead plaintiff in last year?s legal suit against Peterlin, which claimed Peterlin did not have enough expertise in the field (IPW, US Policy, 13 September 2007).

?Shanna has no management experience, no experience with patent prosecution or litigation, no experience with information technology management, etc? all essential to restore the health of the PTO,? Aharonian told Intellectual Property Watch Friday. ?Shanna?s appointment would be an insult to inventors, patent lawyers and patent examiners, and would further accelerate the decline of patent quality at the PTO.?

Aharonian said this time around, ?there will be many more plaintiffs.?

The previous effort against Peterlin failed at district court, and the holding there would seem to insulate people with credentials such as those of Peterlin or Winters.

IP-watch also noted:

Meanwhile, intellectual property issues - including patent reform and internet neutrality - in the 111th Congress will be taken up by the full House Judiciary Committee, and no longer by the Subcommittee on Courts, Internet, and Intellectual Property. Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, heads the Judiciary Committee.

A committee aide confirmed the change to Intellectual Property Watch, noting that antitrust issues will be moved from the full committee to the subcommittee. ?Because there?s so much interest on in the issue of intellectual property,? the aide said, the subpanel has grown ?pretty dramatically? in recent years.

Oddly, IP-watch wrote: Berman was known for having a pro-rightsholder stance. which seems the opposite of reality.

IP-watch noted of the Senate: The Senate Judiciary Committee, which deals with myriad intellectual property-related issues in that chamber, will be headed by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, in the next Congress. It is expected he will try to push through patent reform again. This panel also is where judicial nominations will be vetted.

Full post as published by IPBiz on November 16, 2008 (boomark / email).