Head of US Patent and Trademark Office to step down in January

In an unexpected move, David Kappos will step down as Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in January, after serving for four years. The news leaked earlier today on the PatentlyO blog, but a USPTO spokesperson has since confirmed the news to Bloomberg. A former IBM attorney, Kappos was a well-liked and extremely well-respected Director who focused on nuts-and-bolts application of the law — he was tasked with implementing the America Invents Act after guiding it throu...