USPTO Director Lee Discusses Importance Of Patent Quality

Opening a conference on patent quality today, United States Patent and Trademark Office Director Michele Lee highlighted efforts of the administration in improving the quality of patents and addressing backlog of patent applications. Patent backlog is down by one-third since the start of the Obama administration, she said.

Lee’s remarks are available on the USPTO website here. The event was held at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

She described the advantage to society of getting patents right.

“There is a cost to society when the USPTO issues a patent that should not issue, just as there is a cost to society when we don’t issue a patent that should issue,” Lee said. “With patents that are overly broad or vague, we create inefficiencies and opportunities for abuse. With patents that are unduly narrow, we discourage incentives to innovate. At a time when IP is more important to our economy than ever before, neither is an option, we have to get this right.”

Among the accomplishments she cited was her creation of a deputy commissioner for patent quality, filled by Valencia Martin-Wallace, which showed the office’s long-term commitment to the issue.

“This is important as any organization that produces a quality product needs to focus on quality for years, if not decades,” she said.

It remains to be seen how the new US administration taking office next month will view these issues.