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

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."

Comments

Classic Obama

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Classic Obama

[Anonymous Coward]

You only hate hypocrisy because you are racist.

Re:Classic Obama

[mellon]

It's really simple. I do not think Obama is perfect and wonderful. But I think he is less harmful than Bush Junior was, because he's competent. He gets things done. I don't like everything he gets done, but he is the head of the executive branch, not the legislative branch. It's his job to get things done.

Expecting the president to change laws is treating him or her like an autocrat: a king. The president is not supposed to make policy; he or she is supposed to implement policies made by congress and the courts. What sucked about Bush was that he thought it was his job to "lead the nation" and he did a piss-poor job of it, with Congress' help.

We really need to get over our collective feudal attitude toward the presidency. The founding fathers understood that the president was not a king; George Washington famously refused to be named king. Why have we forgotten this principle?

Re:Classic Obama

[flyingsquid]

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.

I don't know what the hell to think about Obama anymore. The guy we elected was smart, charismatic, capable, articulate; he ran a brilliant campaign that took out the heavily favored Hilary Clinton. He came across as a man with the intelligence, principles, and pragmatism to fix the nations problems... or at least not fuck it up as catastrophically as George W. Bush did. So where the hell did that guy go?

I remember the early Obama speeches when he wasn't just a speaker but an orator, he the fire of a black preacher... he had conviction. That was the inspiring thing about him. Yeah it was pretty words, but he seemed to really believe it. Now he just seems to mouth the speeches, like they're just empty words put there by his speechwriters. At times when people ask him questions he seems barely able to articulate an answer and to fumble for words... more and more, he's that barely-keeping-it-together guy we saw during the second debate against Romney. He seems dejected, run-down... and increasingly it seems like the administration can't do a damn thing right. They're as bad as Bush ever was on drone strikes and warrantless surveillance- worse, in fact- Guantanamo isn't shut, the VA is a clusterfuck, Iraq is falling apart again, the response to the Crimea was half-assed... and now this?

I still like the guy, as a person. I think he means well. But I get the impression that he's burned out, disengaged and depressed, that he spends his days staring at the ceiling of the Oval Office and counting the days until his Presidential Library opens and he gets to take lucrative speaking gigs. And that meanwhile, with the Commander in Chief checked out, the various special interests and agendas are having a field day, and doing what they do best- turning government of the people, for the people, and by the people into the plaything of moneyed special interests, the uber-rich, and the military-industrial complex. Anyway, that's my theory. I think he means well, and he came in trying to fight the machine, but it was one man against an entire machine. And the machine ultimately broke him.

Re:Obama

[Shakrai]

Well I got my free healthcare so sucks to be you! haha!

Free? I don't think you understand what "free" means. And you got your "free" health care in part by a huge giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, an industry whose abuses of the patent system are legendary.

Re:Why does Obama keep doing this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this so hard to understand?
First - dispel from your mind there are two parties called Democrats and Republicans who are polar opposites.
The truth is there are 2 factions (some of each in each of the two parties): oligarchs and representatives.
The oligarchs are people like Dianne Feinstein (D) and Mike Rogers (R). The representatives are people like Ron Wyden (D) and Justin Amash (R).

The oligarchs generally believe in more power for them so they can rule you. They understand they cannot openly come out and say this. Thus, their method of achieving their ends is to propose wildly unpopular legislation which they use to demagogue "the other guy's party" on different technicalities. This creates the boogie man they need to raise campaign funds and scare the people into voting for them rather than the "evil other guy".

Currently the Oligarchs are in the majority in both houses and they have the white house. They are also well entrenched in both the DNC and RNC.
Obama is and always was one of them. The republicans have been screaming this for ages. Most of them though just didn't realize that you were screaming your head off about Bush being like this, that you were right too.

Welcome to having your eyes opened. Join the club.