by Dennis Crouch
I’m delivering a U.S. patent law year-in-review for the past year or so. Here are Nine of the topics that deserve some focus.
1. The New USPTO under President Trump: The greatest ongoing issue is the about-face from President Trump to President Biden. The ultimate direction and outcome will become more clear as we move through 2025, but there have already been dramatic shifts, especially focused on workforce RTO and RIF and elimination of non-core USPTO activities. Meanwhile backlog is growing again.
2. The Only Federal Circuit En Banc Decision – LKQ v. GM: Shifts in design patent obviousness analysis moving away from the Rosen-Durling test toward the more flexible KSR standard. We’ll talk through how the USPTO is responding; global expansion of design rights; and the 20% rise in design patents in 2024 (while also having a growing backlog).
