“We are living in interesting times,” said Rea, in a speech to attendees at the AIPLA Annual Meeting. “That is the polite way of putting it, anyway, when I think about the heightened partisan rhetoric in Washington this year, and over the past few weeks in particular.”
The USPTO has suffered directly from the political standoff in the form of budget sequestration, which requires the Office to give 5% of its income, or $150 million, to the US Treasury. It has also faced challenges including the departure of former Director David Kappos in January and Rea’s recent announcement of her own intention to resign.
Rea did not talk about her decision to leave the USPTO, which she revealed in an email to colleagues last month. But she said “ideological fault lines” and “differing business models” pose “the same risk of paralysis” in IP debates as has recently been seen in Congress.
“We are all caught in the swirling winds of a never-ending hurricane that is the IP policy debate,” said Rea, adding that the USPTO “sits in the eye of that hurricane.”
She added that despite the setbacks, the Office has continued to reduce the patent backlog since former director David Kappos left in January. The backlog now stands at 586,000, down 18% since 2009 despite a continued growth in filings, which were up 7% this year.
Rea said the Office is making progress on Obama’s five Executive Actions, which the White House announced in June. Four of the them will be implemented through the USPTO. She said revised guidance and training has been provided to examiners on how to identify a means-plus-function limitation.
The USPTO is also working on international harmonization with IP offices in Europe, China, Japan and Korea. In January 2014, the Offices will launch a pilot program called IP5 PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway), which will allow fast-track examination in one office after another has found one or more claims allowable.
She said attendees should “stay tuned” for new rules based on public comments the USPTO has previously received on patent trolls’ ability to mask their identity through shell companies.
