Each month we interview a different leader in innovation.
This month: Q&A with David Kappos, the newly appointed Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), whom we met when he visited our hometown of San Francisco in mid October, and then interviewed recently for this newsletter.
Kappos is an engineer-turned lawyer who headed patenting at tech giant IBM—so let’s just say he’s seen more than a few patents over the years—before President Obama tapped him for government service as the nation’s top patent person. Here’s perspective from the Director:
Q: What’s been your biggest surprise since moving from the private sector to the USPTO?
David: I have to say that I have a new appreciation for the challenges that come with running a complex agency within the U.S. government.
Q: What's been the most fun part of your relatively new job?
David: The last several weeks have been a blur of intense activity as we have rolled out a number of new initiatives and policies at the USPTO. So it was a special pleasure for me to participate in activities on our campus and at the White House honoring the 2008 National Medal of Technology and Innovation and the National Medal of Science Laureates.
I was particularly pleased to host a reception and dinner sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Technology and Science Medals Foundation in our museum and auditorium. The men and women who gathered here for the two days of ceremonies truly are the creative and innovative giants of our time.
It was, frankly, great fun and exciting to meet and talk with pioneers like Forrest Bird, the inventor of the portable respirator, the team at Adobe that developed desktop publishing and Dr. Esther Takeuchi who invented the battery technology used in implantable cardiac defibrillators. They and their fellow honorees have saved millions of lives, improved the quality of life for countless others and transformed the way we do business.
Q: Do you ever review individual patents these days?
David: No, we have a team of more than 6,000 examiners in whom I have the utmost confidence.
Q: What's the first thing you'd suggest a person do after he or she comes up with an exciting product idea?
David: Develop a sound business plan in which intellectual property protection is a part. Any business decision has to be an informed one, though, so I would suggest first taking a look at our web site designed with the independent inventor in mind (http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/independent/index.jsp).
Here you will find basic information on applying for a patent or a trademark registration, transcripts of our online chats with independent inventors, and other useful information.
Q: Any other brief advice or words of wisdom for the independent inventors out there?
David: Independent inventors should seek an interview with their patent examiner early in the process as a means to get patents issued quickly and cost-effectively. The statistics show that an interview can help the examiner and the applicant get to the heart of the patentability determination quickly and efficiently.
Interview data from FY 2008 shows that the allowance rate after a first office action on the merits (FAOM) is more than doubled when an interview is held between the examiner and the practitioner. Similar gains are apparent from the First Action Interview Pilot program, which typically includes an interview prior to the FAOM.
It’s no surprise to me that this is the case. When people talk to one another and listen to one another they can quickly understand points of agreement as well as differences, and resolve those differences in real-time. The applicant should come to the interview prepared, willing to answer questions, willing to listen and be receptive to claims modifications the examiner suggests. Sometimes no claims will be allowable; but even if that is the case, an interview that produces an “agreement to disagree” is valuable both to the USPTO and to applicants.
Q: In your perfect world, how long would the patent examination process take, on average?
David: Our goal is 20 months to patent issuance. This would be a major drop from where we currently are—over 33 months on average. Twenty months is optimal because it does not take away trade secrecy lead time (18 months, since that is when most applications publish), and leaves enough time for prior art to become available and searchable, while waiting no longer than needed to serve these two interests. Of course, for applicants who want their patents even faster, we are working on a new accelerated examination process, available for payment of a fee, which will aim to get patents processed in under a year.
Q: Why must patent application and maintenance fees so high in a time when the nation is trying to encourage more innovation?
David: Fees for the patent application, issue and maintenance fees and other related fees are reduced by 50% when the applicant is a small business or individual inventor. Unlike most other federal entities, the USPTO receives no taxpayer dollars; it subsists solely and completely on user fees. Our user fee structure is generally based upon a “fee for service” economic model. In order to obtain, or attempt to obtain, a patent or a trademark from the agency, an applicant must pay certain fees at various stages of the process.
Q: Has President Obama shared any invention ideas with you? And if so, is he filing for patents on any of them?
David: Well, even if I knew I surely wouldn’t betray an inventor’s trust. But if President Obama did get a patent, he would be only the second U.S. president to do so. While a Congressman from Illinois in 1849, Abraham Lincoln received Patent No. 6,469 for “A Device for Buoying Vessels over Shoals.”
Q: What’s your favorite invention from history, and why?
David: Well, thinking about the ones I use most these days—I’d say the computer, the cell phone or the airplane!
David Kappos
Source of Above
http://www.absolutelynewsletter.com/patent-office-director-david-kappos-on-innovation.html
Kappos
Tiny Bit of Hogwash Here... Come on David Kappos is Pretending to Be a Good Guy and Seems to Be Proclaiming to Really Want to Protect Inventors, if So where Is he on Protecting a Trillion Dollar Technology - and the Inventors that are Seemingly Collateral Damage?
Independent Inventors Should Seek Patent Council, Says David Kappos Patent Office Director - Well WHY?
When the USPTO seems to have NO Issue with the Patent Attorney Stealing the Invention and Putting Patents of their Clients in the Patent Attorneys Name... David Kappos Says for you to seek patent council ... I Say Beware... In the Iviewit Trillion Dollar Patent Theft there is Millions upon Millions of Shareholder / Investors Money at Stake, there is Trillions in Benefits ... there is thousands of documents of proof and 8 years of proof on top of proof and the US Justice System Can Do NOTHING to Restore Justice ...
So you the Little Inventor without the Millions .. without the Big Name and Big Connections backing you.. Well you don't stand a Chance, if your Invention is any good the Patent Attorney will Make sure, one way or another that you Don't Actually get to REALLY benefit from it...
Who Better to Protect the Interests of IBM at the US Patent Office then Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).
David Kappos is an engineer-turned lawyer who headed patenting at tech giant IBM - Does this Raise an Eyebrow to anyone, how will David Kappos Really be able to be in the best interest of the Inventors, those trying to patent something really great when he has Connections, and Affiliations that may be in direct Conflict with the Invention?
You are fighting for the rights to your Holy Grail High Tech invention and the Keepers to the Kingdom in which would not exist if it were not for you.. well they are IBM Cronies in the USPTO and the Supreme Court, they are Politically Connected Judges and Attorneys, they are "Evil Doers" and there is NOTHING you can do to get the Rights to Your Invention... So Give up.. and if you Do Get the Nerve Up to Make a Stand.. well You will Pay the Price...
the Connections - the Cronies - the Affiliations -
the Conflict of Interests.... OMG to say the Least...
Kappos
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