Public Knowledge Applauds Confirmation of Michelle Lee as USPTO Director
Public Knowledge Applauds Confirmation of Michelle Lee as USPTO Director
Public Knowledge Applauds Confirmation of Michelle Lee as USPTO Director

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    Yesterday, the Senate unanimously confirmed Michelle Lee to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Lee previously served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO.

    The following may be attributed to Charles Duan, Director of Public Knowledge's Patent Reform Project:

    “We applaud and congratulate Michelle Lee on her confirmation last night.

    “Lee's service over the past year acting as director of the USPTO has demonstrated her commitment to a balanced and fair patent system in the interest of all parties and the public, particularly in the area of improving patent quality. As she said last year, 'the PTO has a longer-term role to play in ensuring the health of the patent system, and that has to do with improving patent quality.' The initiatives on which the USPTO has embarked under her acting directorship, including numerous roundtables and a patent quality summit later this month, exemplify her leadership in striving for a more perfect patent system.

    “In that same speech, she recognized that 'we must acknowledge that the patent system doesn't belong to a narrow set of patent stakeholders, but to all of us.' As representatives of 'all of us,' Public Knowledge looks forward to this important broader conversation about how the patent system affects consumers and the public, and how the USPTO can improve the patent system to better serve the public interest.”

    Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.