Former Google executive Michelle Lee confirmed to lead US patent office

The US Senate confirmed former Google executive Michelle Lee to head the US Patent and Trademark Office, a position that has been vacant for more than two years. President Barack Obama's choice was approved by an unrecorded voice vote in the full Senate, just over a week after the Senate Judiciary Committee gave the nod to her nomination.

The Alexandria, Virginia-based federal agency has more than 12,000 employees whose main role is to determine which inventions deserve a patent. The agency had gone without a confirmed leader since David Kappos, a former IBM Corp executive, left in February 2013. Lee, a former deputy general counsel and head of patents and patent strategy at Google, had been the acting director of the office. She started with the agency in 2012 as the first director of the patent office's Silicon Valley outpost.