USPTOの新長官、David Kappos氏（特許弁護士であり、元IBM副社長）の宣誓式と就任の挨拶が8月13日に行われました。

Obama大統領に任命されたKappos氏は、Bush政権下でBush大統領の任命により知財の経験ゼロで就任した前長官Dudas氏とは対照的な人物であります。　即ち、Kappos氏は20年以上におよぶ民間企業（IBM）での知財の経験を持つ人物であり、PTO長官に就任する前まではIBMの副社長、知財部長でもあり、IBMの知財の全世界の特許・商標をマネージメントする任をおっていました。　また、同氏は米国特許弁護士会の役員でもあり、米国の知財権利者会の役員も歴任しておりました。

Kappos氏は1983年にカリフォルニア大学にて電気・コンピューター工学の学士を取得し、同年にIBMで開発者として勤務を開始し、1990年にカリフォルニア州のBerkeley大学ロースクールにてJD（法学博士）を取得しております。　

上記のように今回の長官、Kappos氏は知財を熟知した人物なので、去る3月20日（2009年）にCAFCで一部認容、一部破棄されたDudas前長官の負の遺産であるPTO新規則、「�ARCEの数を制限；�Bクレーム数の制限；�C審査補助書面（ESD)の義務付け」に関しても、適切な対応がなされるのではないかと期待されます。　要は、CAFCの�A、�B、�Cに対する判断がどうあれPTOとして、これら新規則を実現の方向にアクションを起こさなければ当該Dudas前長官の負の遺産は自然消滅し、日の目を見ることはありません。　IBMの副社長および社内特許弁護士を長年経験したる人物、即ち、出願人側の負担が著しく増大するがPTOにとって実質的なメリットがないと判断ができる人物が上記新規則、�A、�B、�Cを実現する方向でアクションを起こすとは考えがたい。

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参考：

米国特許施行規則に関するCAFCの判決　（2009年3月20日）

Tafas v. USPTO

2008年4月1日に合衆国バージニア州東部地区連邦地裁において、2007年11月1日から施行される予定であったUSPTOの新施行規則を無効とする略式判決がでました。　同略式判決（2008年4月1日）に対し、PTOが控訴し、2009年3月20日にCAFCの判決がでました：

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Kappos氏の就任式の挨拶（2009年8月13日）は以下のとおり：

Thank you Secretary Locke for your support, for joining today and for your focus on the USPTO and the American IP system.

I also want to thank President Obama for appointing me to this position.

And thanks to all of you who came out today during your lunch hour to participate in this event. What a wonderful welcome!

I also want to thank the senior management team at the USPTO, particularly for their leadership during a time of great challenges for the agency. And I especially thank John Doll for his service leading the agency for the latest 7 months.

Thanks, also, to the former directors who are here today. I look forward to working with you in my new capacity.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Leslie, and friends joining today for their support and encouragement. I’m very thankful you could be here. I am tremendously pleased and honored to be joining your team at the USPTO.

As a longtime patent practitioner and trademark advisor, I understand both the importance and the difficulty of the work done by USPTO employees.

I have some understanding—and will be learning a lot more in the coming months—about the challenges, and indeed the impediments, you face in doing your jobs.

My pledge to you is that I will listen, and I will work with every single USPTO employee as part of your team to understand these issues and address them so that you can reach your maximum effectiveness and achieve everything you want in your careers.

For example, I know many of you have concerns about the count system. We’re going to address the count system.

I know many of you who telework or want to telework have concerns about travel requirements We’re going to address that issue. This is a Trademarks issue; it is a Patents issue; it’s an agency issue.

I know many of you are concerned about the time your managers are able to spend helping you learn the refinements of the patent laws and guiding you in applying 35USC, 37CFR and the MPEP in your work. We’re going to address those issues too.

I also recognize that Trademarks has very different challenges from Patents as Trademarks seeks to maintain its low pendency and high quality while retaining its highly skilled employees in a time when application filings have been decreasing.

The list goes on and on, as you all know better than I do. I’m here to address the whole list.

Let me reiterate—I’m HERE to address YOUR issues.

Secretary Locke has asked me to devote my personal attention to improving—and indeed remaking in some areas—the operations of the USPTO so that you can succeed at doing high-quality work, so that - in turn - we can succeed at serving the best interests of our country.

This will include reducing the backlog of unexamined patent applications, cutting pendency dramatically, working off the mounting appeals backlog and improving re-exam processing—all while maintaining high quality standards.

To meet Secretary Locke’s direction to me, I will be HERE at the USPTO. I will minimize overseas travel, and focus domestic travel on listening to the U.S. innovation community and discussing our agenda with them.

Most importantly, I plan to focus my energies on understanding issues here at the USPTO and addressing them aggressively.

There’s one other specific point I’d like to address before concluding--Our financial condition at the USPTO and its impact on you.

2009 has been a very tough year for the USPTO financially, as it has been for our country generally.

2010 is also likely to be difficult; it certainly will start that way.

I’m going to make a very high priority of moving the USPTO to more sustainable footing both in the short term—fiscal year 2010—and in the longer term.

Nobody wants to put USPTO employees in a position of worrying about job security.

And despite the swift and effective work that was recently done to make Trademark funds available on a loan basis to the Patent team—nobody wants to actually USE that authority if there is a way to avoid it.

It is my job not only to ensure that you have the resources needed to do your jobs, but also to ensure the USPTO is placed on a financial footing that ensures resources will be available in future years so that your work and the mission of the Office is not vulnerable to economic cycles.

So to conclude:
Thank you for taking time on your lunch hour to listen today. I’m tremendously pleased to be joining your team. I’m committed to making changes to help you propel your work and your careers. And, finally, I look forward to meeting each of you and working with you to advance our mission on behalf of the American people. Thank you and have a great afternoon.

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矢部達雄