Lee urges lawyers to volunteer for new USPTO initiatives

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Lee urges lawyers to volunteer for new USPTO initiatives

USPTO deputy director Michelle Lee spoke of the agency’s latest initiatives to improve the US patent system during a keynote speech at Managing IP’s US Patent Forum 2014

michelle-lee-keynote-speech-pic.jpg

Lee urged lawyers at Tuesday’s event in Washington, DC to volunteer for pro-bono positions created by three new executive actions announced by President Obama last month.

She hopes the initiatives will reduce the “red tape, delay and frivolous litigation” that hampers innovation.

The White House plans to expand ways to crowdsource prior art, offer more robust technical training to examiners and offer pro bono and pro se assistance to inventors struggling to pay for legal representation.

To help these efforts, the USPTO is asking technical experts to volunteer to deliver presentations to examiners to improve their understanding of different types of technology. The agency is also looking for volunteers from the IP bar to provide pro bono advice to individuals and small businesses.

Lee, who replaced Teresa Stanek Rea as deputy director of the USPTO in December 2013, said the office has “made great progress” on five executive actions announced by President Obama in June, along with seven legislative recommendations.

She also spoke of the impact patents had on her family and career motivations.

“My father was an engineer and so were all the other fathers I knew growing up in Silicon Valley,” said Lee. “I wanted to contribute and enable others to contribute to innovation.”

As a result, she became a programmer for HP before joining Fenwick & West. She went on to work for Google, which had “a handful of patents” at the time. Lee spent nine years with the search engine company, where she ended up as head of patents and patent strategy.

She left Google in May 2012 to become director of the USPTO’s Silicon Valley office before being appointed to lead the agency.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Attorneys explain why there are early signs that the US Supreme Court could rule in favour of ISP Cox in a copyright dispute
A swathe of UPC-related hires suggests firms are taking the forum seriously, as questions over the transitional stage begin
A win for Nintendo in China and King & Spalding hiring a prominent patent litigator were also among the top talking points
Rebecca Newman at Addleshaw Goddard, who live-reported on the seminal dispute, unpicks the trials and tribulations of the case and considers its impact
Attorneys predict how Lululemon’s trade dress and design patent suit against Costco could play out
Lawyers at Linklaters analyse some of the key UPC trends so far, and look ahead to life beyond the transition period
David Rodrigues, who previously worked at an IP boutique, said he may become more involved in transactional work at his new firm
Indian smartphone maker Lava must pay $2.3 million as a security deposit for past sales, as its dispute with Dolby over audio coding SEPs plays out
Powell Gilbert’s opening in Düsseldorf, complete with a new partner hire, continues this summer’s trend of UPC-related lateral movement
IP leaders at Brandsmiths and Bird & Bird, who were on opposing sides at the UK Supreme Court in Iconix v Dream Pairs, unpick the landmark case and its ramifications
Gift this article