USPTO Director David Kappos's blog is now public!
Posted by Bob Sayre on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 08:48 PM
Good news: the blog of USPTO Director David Kappos is now public. I had previously referenced his blog, when access was limited to United States Patent and Trademark Office employees, in earlier posts about changes at the USPTO.
Though Director Kappos's first public post does not include any profound new announcements, I expect that, going forward, he will use it to inform us of new USPTO initiatives and the rationale behind his policies. Doing so will definitely signal a change of operation and communication from USPTO management, and I expect it will help to improve relations both between the USPTO and applicants and between the USPTO and the broader public. Director Kappos's blog allows for comments and even includes an RSS feed. Although RSS permeates nearly all corners of the internet, the USPTO had thus far hid from it.
Accordingly, Director Kappos's public blogging and use of syndication for communication are additional positive signs of openness and transparency. Check it out and stay tuned.
Stay tuned as well to see how the USPTO announcement that it will provide its data to Google for dissemination will play out. I enjoy using a wide variety of Google services and am generally quite pleased with the quality, so I am optimistic that Google can help make patent data more accessible, particularly since the USPTO until now has refused to even provide PDF copies of US patents via its website, which has been contrary to its mission to disseminate information.
Hat tip to Professor Dennis Crouch for the announcement regarding the public accessibility of Director Kappos's blog.