Independence May Help USPTO Better Control Budget

James Babineau (Principal) recently authored Law360 article, "Independence May Help USPTO Better Control Budget" on November 2, 2017.

“The patent office is always at the whim of Congress in terms of how much money it can keep,” said James Babineau, managing principal of Fish & Richardson PC’s office in Austin, Texas. “From a quality perspective, I’m all for it.”

“Long-term, the patent office will always need some oversight by Congress; it is still part of the government,” Babineau said. “And there will have to be oversight that will prevent abuses.”

“But making it an independent agency won’t just send it out there to be some rogue institution,” he said. “It will still have constraints on it.”