Tech cheers patent office selection

Tech companies are applauding President Obama’s selection of a former Google executive to lead the Patent and Trademark Office.

“Ms. Lee understands the importance of a properly functioning patent system for the U.S. economy, and is the right person to lead the USPTO,” Michael Beckerman, the head of The Internet Association, said in a statement late on Thursday, after Michelle Lee’s nomination was announced. Beckerman’s trade group includes major Web companies such as Google, Facebook and Netflix.

{mosads}Lee received the nomination months after she was installed as the deputy director in January. Because the top spot at the PTO has been vacant since early 2013, she has effectively been leading the agency for the last nine months.

“Michelle Lee has capably served as Acting Director of the USPTO since January 2014, leading the office on important initiatives like improving patent quality and offering new guidelines to implement key Supreme Court decisions,” said Erich Andersen, vice president at Microsoft, referring to high court decisions this year to limit the number of software patents that get granted.

“This is an important job — our [intellectual property] system is critical to our economy, as companies that rely on IP protection contribute $5 trillion to the economy and support 40 million jobs,” Andersen added.

The head of the Application Developers Alliance — an organization for app creators — echoed the praise, calling Lee “enormously qualified” and predicting she would be an ally in the fight against patent “trolls,” which tech companies allege file scores of meaningless lawsuits claiming firms are infringing on their patents with the hopes of extracting costly settlements.

Lee previously led the PTO’s office in Silicon Valley and was a top executive at Google for more than a decade.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman to lead the patent office in its history.