What’s next for the USPTO?

What will the future of the US Patent and Trademark Office look like after President-elect Donald Trump takes office?

Many in the innovation industry are curious, including Patentlyo, which pondered what kind of approach the President-elect may take to innovation.

“An element of Trumps campaign was the recognition that he personally understands how to find an exploit loopholes in government regulation and that his experience makes him uniquely qualified to fix the holes,” Dennis Crouch wrote. “The question for the patent system is whether president Trump will see patent trolls, pharmaceutical pricing, and the Eastern District of Texas as exploitations needing to be fixed.”

Patent legislation may not have been the first issue on most Americans minds, but the President-elect certainly has his work cut out for him. Like Crouch explained, the presence of non-practicing entities and the haven of legislation that exists in the Eastern District of Texas are major issues that affect businesses from the top down. Fixing them should be a priority, but Trump’s business dealings have not usually been impacted by the issues, and it’s not clear if he’ll view them as a priority.

There is plenty the U.S. is bound to discover over the transition from President Obama to Trump in the coming months, but this is an area that is feels like it carries a ton of uncertainty.