According to PTO spokesperson Jennifer Rankin Byrne, Peterlin’s decision to step down now was driven largely by her desire to ensure a smooth changeover, since she is due to have her first child in the autumn and would have been on maternity leave in January.
Were she to leave the agency any later than August, there would not be time to sufficiently train her replacement to work with the incoming deputy director.
An employee notice circulated at the USPTO yesterday said: “Margaret has emphasized the importance of an orderly transition for the agency, so she has provided us with sufficient time to ensure overlap with her successor as well as to give that person opportunity to perform as the Deputy Under Secretary (and Deputy Director) through the change in administration in January 2009.”
Rankin Byrne stressed that Peterlin will return to work in the private sector, although she does not yet have a specific position in mind.
Peterlin was appointed by Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez in early 2007. Soon after, a lawsuit was filed against her by vocal IP activist Greg Aharonian of the Internet Patent News Service, who claimed that her appointment was “unlawful because she is not a ‘citizen of the United States who has a professional background and experience in patent or trademark law’”, as mandated by US patent law. The suit was dismissed in December 2007.
Peterlin was active in the patent reform debate, and took a lead role in defending the administration’s position on provisions such as applicant quality submissions (AQS), which has been targeted as one of the bill’s stopping points.
The AQS provision of patent reform bill S1145, which would require patent applicants to submit search reports with each application, has been widely touted by the Office as one of the best solutions to the problems of both pendency and poor patent quality, but many in the patent community feel it places undue burden upon applicants.
"Margaret Peterlin has been instrumental to the success of the USPTO over the past year,” said USPTO director Jon Dudas in a statement. Dudas added that Peterlin has “tremendous understanding of IP issues and helped the Administration promote smart IP policies both on Capitol Hill and with IP offices around the world”.
As to who will take over from Peterlin, Rankin Byrne told Managing IP: “The plan is to fill the deputy director position, although that person hasn’t been selected yet.”
Candidates are already being considered for the position, which will still terminate along with the present administration. However, the appointment of a new director and deputy director “could take months”, according to the PTO, during which time the commissioner for patents will serve as director.
