{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/judiciary-committee-chairman-leahy-chairs-confirmation-hearing-with-intellectual-property-nominees", "Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy Chairs Confirmation Hearing With Intellectual Property Nominees", "2014-12-10", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.10.14\n\t\t\t Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy Chairs Confirmation Hearing With Intellectual Property Nominees \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON (Wednesday, December 10, 2014) \u2013 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is chairing a confirmation hearing this morning for Michelle Lee, nominated to serve as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and Daniel Marti, nominated to serve as Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). Testimony, member statements, and a webcast of the hearing are available online. \r\nStatement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Executive Nominations December 10, 2014\r\nToday the Committee is considering nominees to two important leadership positions charged with supporting our Nation\u2019s creators, artists, and inventors.\u00a0 I take a strong personal interest in these positions both as a leader of this Committee, and as the senior Senator for Vermont.\u00a0 Vermont is home to a diverse range of artists, writers, and creators.\u00a0 Every year, it ranks among the most innovative States that have the highest patents per capita.\u00a0 Vermonters know firsthand that creators and innovators are the lifeblood of this country\u2014fueling our imagination while creating jobs and contributing billions of dollars to the economy.\r\nThe two nominations we are considering today play a central role promoting this important work.\u00a0 The Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator or \u201cIPEC\u201d was created by legislation I authored in 2008 that was reported by this Committee and passed the Senate with unanimous support.\u00a0 Our objective was to take a comprehensive approach to intellectual property enforcement within the U.S. government, to ensure that law enforcement has the tools it needs and that agencies are working together efficiently.\u00a0 The IPEC plays a valuable role bringing together members of the Internet ecosystem to address the complex problem of online IP theft.\u00a0 Earlier this year, Ranking Member Grassley and I sent a letter to President Obama urging him to nominate someone to fill this position, which has been vacant for well over a year.\u00a0 Today\u2019s confirmation hearing is an important step in filling this vacancy. I hope the nomination will move swiftly so the IPEC Office can return fully to its important work.\r\nCompared to the IPEC, the position of Director of the Patent and Trademark Office, or \u201cPTO,\u201d is not so new:\u00a0 our Nation\u2019s first official charged with granting patents was Thomas Jefferson, when he was Secretary of State.\u00a0 Since its early days, the PTO has grown to play a vital role driving the engine of our economy.\u00a0 Close to 600,000 patent applications and 450,000 trademark class applications are filed with the Office each year.\u00a0 By serving America\u2019s innovators, the PTO helps Vermonters and citizens across the country build their businesses and bring their inventions to the global marketplace.\r\nThree years ago, Congress came together to pass the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the greatest transformation to our patent system in over 60 years.\u00a0 This Committee worked for six years to pass that landmark legislation and bring our patent system into the 21st Century.\u00a0 The AIA has helped simplify the process for patent approval, reduced backlogs at the USPTO, and harmonized our patent system with the rest of the world.\u00a0\r\nThe AIA sought to improve patent quality by creating new and more efficient administrative proceedings at the PTO.\u00a0 Three years later, the PTO has now received over 2000 petitions for post-grant review.\u00a0 These measures are important to help businesses that fall into the cross-hairs of over-broad patents.\u00a0 But improving the quality of patents also improves their value for inventors and investors, too.\u00a0 The PTO is doing tremendous work to implement these new programs.\u00a0 Because of the AIA, there are now four satellite offices around the country to make the PTO more accessible to inventors and small businesses.\u00a0 The PTO has strengthened its pro bono program, and used its fee-setting authority created by the AIA to gain better financial independence.\u00a0 The PTO has been without a Senate-confirmed director for almost two years. I want to hear more from Ms. Lee about these and other efforts as the PTO continues its work to deliver on the promise of the AIA.\u00a0 I am pleased that in the funding bill released last night, we were able to ensure that PTO receives a budget of $3.46 billion, reflecting amounts it collects through user fees that were strengthened by the AIA. Full funding of PTO should remain a priority.\r\nCongress needs to do more work to strengthen our patent system.\u00a0 This Committee has worked for the past 18 months to address misconduct by bad actors who are abusing the patent system.\u00a0 When these so-called patent trolls send threatening letters to small businesses in Vermont and tie up companies across the country in bad-faith law suits, they hamper innovation and harm our economy.\u00a0 We dedicated months of Committee time to this issue and we made significant bipartisan progress.\u00a0 I look forward to continuing that work in the new year.\r\nI also look forward to continuing this Committee\u2019s productive relationship with the IPEC.\u00a0 The role of the IPEC is particularly important in addressing counterfeiting and infringement online, a complex, global problem that requires creative, multi-party solutions.\u00a0 Every business that operates in the Internet ecosystem has a role to play.\u00a0 Last month, I sent a letter to major credit card companies urging them to do more to prevent use of their payment networks for illegal theft online.\u00a0 Since then, my staff has had productive conversations with the companies, and Visa, for one, has taken proactive steps against a number of cyberlockers engaged in online piracy.\u00a0 I have asked the companies to continue that conversation with the new IPEC once the position is filled.\u00a0 I hope the IPEC will also renew the Office\u2019s work with advertising networks that drive so much of the online economy.\u00a0 Smart solutions are also needed for the \u201cwhack-a-mole\u201d problem that plagues copyright holders online, where illegal content or sites are taken down only to spring back up again moments later in a new location.\r\nThe nominees before us are eminently qualified to fill these roles.\u00a0 Mr. Marti is currently the managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton LLP.\u00a0 He has spent his entire legal career specializing in intellectual property law, with a focus in trademark law and the protection of intellectual property both domestically and internationally.\u00a0 Mr. Marti is a graduate of Georgetown University and Emory University School of Law.\r\nMs. Lee currently serves as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.\u00a0 She previously was the first director of the Silicon Valley satellite office of the PTO, and has served on the PTO\u2019s Public Patent Advisory Committee.\u00a0 Prior to joining the Office, Ms. Lee was Deputy General Counsel and Head of Patents and Patent Strategy at Google.\u00a0 She earned an advanced degree in electric engineering and computer science from M.I.T. and her law degree from Stanford Law School.\u00a0 I welcome both witnesses and look forward to working with Senator Grassley to consider your nominations.\r\n#####\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tPress Contact  David Carle: 202-224-3693", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/judiciary-committee-chairman-leahy-chairs-confirmation-hearing-with-intellectual-property-nominees"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.837279949337244, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}