Obama Nominates Former Google Attorney to Head US Patent Office

Once upon a time, the US Patent and Trademark Office was a quiet place where inventors big and small staked their claims to originality. Silicon Valley's inventive tumult, along with the insatiable commercial beast known as the pharmaceutical industry, transformed the feds' Sleepy Hollow into Ground Zero for intellectual property rights. Now the question is who could earn marketplace trust while maintaining a zeal to protect the public interest?

Michele Lee
(Image: fedscoop.com)

Well, when in doubt, President Obama taps his tech allies for someone who has the right stuff. In the Patent Office case, 44 considered his friends at Google and wondered whether they had a suitable candidate. Mountain View tapped Michele Lee as the chosen one. According to The Washington Post, Lee was appointed acting director in January, 2014. Now, BO would like to make Lee's coronation official. Apparently, she has sailed through Senate vetting.

The Post story points out that Lee's ascension is a big win for Silicon Valley firms. They typically have a perspective on intellectual content rights that essentially conflicts with Big Pharma's viewpoint on the issue. Keep in mind that Obama has characteristically gone out of his way to help Big Data firms, such as Amazon (thank you, CIA and Department of Defense contracts) and Google. While no one is disputing Lee's qualifications (electrical engineering and law backgrounds), some wonder what voodoo Big Data lays on the president of the United States.