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White House May Name Patent Reform Opponent As New Head of Patent Office

Posted by samzenpus on from the fox-in-the-henhouse dept.

An anonymous reader writes The Obama Administration is set to appoint Phil Johnson, a pharmaceutical industry executive, as the next Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to sources. The move is likely to anger patent reform advocates given Johnson's past efforts to block legislation aimed at reining in patent trolls, and in light of his positions that appear to contradict the White House's professed goal of fixing the patent system. The top job at the Patent Office has been vacant for around 18-months since the departure of previous director David Kappos in early 2013. Currently, the office is being managed by former Googler Michelle Lee, who was appointed deputy director in December. Earlier this month, Republican Senators led by Orrin Hatch (R-UT) sent a letter to President Obama that praised Lee but that also described the current USPTO management structure as "unfair, untenable and unacceptable for our country's intellectual property agency."

3 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Classic Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is anybody surprised? Claim to support Net Neutrality and give the power to the Cable lobby. He's done this before and he'll do it again. Hypocrite-in-chief.

    1. Re:Classic Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Don't forget the rest of the bad ones:
      FCC chair Julius Genachowski - law school buddy and media conglomerate VP
      as you mentioned, Tom Wheeler - long time fundraiser, Cable industry lobbyist
      US Food Safety Czar and former Monsanto VP Michael Taylor
      US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew - Citigroup executive during the $45 billion bailout
      Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker - chief fundraiser during his campaign in 2008, her family businesses were being sued by IRS for using illegal tax shelters overseas, investigated for ownership shares in a failed subprime bank that blew out 460 or so million dollars.

  2. Why does Obama keep doing this? by timrod · · Score: 4, Informative

    It seems like no matter what Obama says, he continues to appoint lobbyists with clear conflicts of interest to important positions rather than actually think about his choices. First it was Tom Wheeler at the FCC, and now a lobbyist and executive for Big Pharma in charge of patents. What causes him to keep doing this?