Nathan Kelley was quoted in the Law360* article, "Patent Policy to Watch in 2021," regarding new leadership at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

More broadly, once a new permanent director is in place, that person will have an opportunity to examine the USPTO's current direction and possibly chart a new one, said Nathan, the agency's former solicitor.

Under Iancu, the office has put an emphasis on the importance of innovation and inventors, Nathan said, but "what I hope to see is the office having an opportunity to focus inwardly on itself and think about its own role in the innovation system."

For instance, Nathan said, each decision by the PTAB finding a patent invalid "is basically a lesson to the office" that something went wrong at the front end and a patent was issued that shouldn't have been. A new director could decide to take those lessons to heart and make changes that could improve patent quality, he said.

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