The Trump administration announced on Friday August 25, 2017 that the President will nominate Andrei Iancu as the next director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Assuming that Congress approves Iancu’s nomination, he will fill the position previously held by Michelle Lee, who served as USPTO Director during the Obama administration and into the early stages of the Trump administration before officially stepping down on June 6, 2017.
The Iancu nomination will likely be well received by those seeking a strengthening of patent rights, which many believe were eroded under formed Director Lee’s tenure. Iancu is currently the managing partner of Irell & Manella LLP, a Los Angeles-based intellectual property firm and has represented a number of plaintiffs in patent-related lawsuits. Of note, Iancu represented Tivo Corp. in a patent dispute against Verizon, AT&T, Cisco, and Microscoft. Tivo received a collective settlement amount of $1.6 billion from the parties.
Suiter Swantz IP is a full-service intellectual property law firm based in Omaha, NE, serving all of Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. If you have any intellectual property questions or need assistance with any patent, trademark, or copyright matters and would like to speak to one of our patent attorneys please feel free to contact us.