Bracewell’s Kit Crumbley, who previously served as an Administrative Patent Judge with the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board, spoke to IAM Magazine about the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze and his administration’s deferred resignation offer to the patent examining corps.
Crumbley advised the USPTO’s interim leadership to “immediately pursue an exception to the hiring freeze through the Office of Personnel Management, which has explicit authority to grant such exceptions under the executive order.”
“The USPTO has a compelling case for exemption given its unique fee-funded structure and essential role in maintaining American leadership in global innovation,” stated Crumbley. “At a time when other nations are aggressively strengthening their intellectual property systems, particularly China, any degradation in USPTO examination capacity directly threatens US technological competitiveness and economic security. The ability to hire and retain skilled examiners and APJs is crucial for maintaining the speed and quality of patent examination that American innovators rely on to secure funding, launch products and compete in global markets.”
