Frustration mounts in Silicon Valley

Lobbyists for the tech industry say the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is already understaffed and underfunded, and they question why the White House has let the director position sit vacant for more than a year.

Lobbyists for the tech industry say the PTO needs a confirmed leader to deal with a patent backlog that numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and they argue a confirmed director can better respond to complaints about quality control. Former PTO Director David Kappos, who enjoyed strong support from Silicon Valley, left the agency in early 2013. Former Deputy Director Teresa Rea took over as acting director after Kappos’s departure, but she left the agency in September. Late last year, the administration tapped former Google intellectual property lawyer Michelle Lee to serve as the PTO’s deputy director.