Intellectual Property Attorneys - IP Lawyers

President signs bill validating PTO appointments

By Timothy J. Maier on August 27, 2008 12:01 PM
On August 12, 2008, President Bush signed legislation attempting to cure a potential constitutional flaw in the appointment of administrative patent and trademark judges by the Director of the USPTO. An article published in 2007 asserted that the appointment of administrative judges by the Director of the USPTO violated the Appointments clause, which empowers Congress to vest the appointment of inferior officers in the President, the Courts or department heads. As the Director of the PTO is considered to be a department head, the new legislation provides that future appointments be made by the Secretary of Commerce in conjunction with the Director. The legislation also attempts to retroactively ratify the past appointments of judges by the Director and to validate their decisions.

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