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The Patent and Trademark office is finally being run by someone willing to reform the patent system
June 13, 2025
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate confirmed former Google executive Michelle Lee to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a position that has been vacant for two years.
Lee is the former deputy general counsel and former head of patents and patent strategy at Google. She will now head an agency whose main role is to determine which inventions deserve a patent. Since her new position has been empty for two years (even though she was interim head until being confirmed), she will face a massive backlog in examining patents. The unexamined backlog in December 2011 was almost 722,000 patents while today it currently stands at 602,265.
AsArs Technica notes, Lee’s appointment marks the first time someone with a background from an Internet-focused company will take the helm at USPTO. Lee is also a popular pick due to her belief that there needs to be significant patent reforms. While she was at Google, Lee became one of themost outspokenlawyer on the issue of “patent trolls.”
How out of control has patent litigation gotten recently? Before 1990, there had been just one patent damage award of over $100 million. Since 1990, there have been at least 15, with at least five topping $500 million.
Then there are people patenting general ideas and demanding millions for anyone who tries to use such a thought.
As TechDirt noted after Lee gave a speech about patent reform last year, this may be the first time that the patent system will be run by someone who isn’t of the belief that more patents somehow mean a better system.
Lee almost didn’t get to this position. Last year, the White House came close to nominating a pharma lawyer as the USPTO head at a time when big pharma companies were pushing millions into lobbying against patent reform. Thankfully, the White House heard the backlash from both the public and tech industry and stepped away from that candidate and onto Lee.
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