#patent-policy

#patent-policy

The U.S. patent system is facing challenges from many stakeholders, including from groups that believe a weak patent system will result in lower drug prices and more widely available treatments. Such a system would have the opposite effect: fewer treatments being developed due to less research dollars spent. Research and development, and subsequently new drug products, will not occur without a meaningful patent system to provide a level of certainty that investments can be recovered.

John A. Squires was confirmed as USPTO Director on September 17, 2025. The Senate voted to confirm Squires using the "nuclear option" - although he received strong bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee (20-2). Squires is a longtime patent attorney with experience in many aspects of the IP system: prosecution, litigation, licensing and deals, management, etc. He has a chemistry background prior to law school, and also worked for many years in fintech - the same field as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.