Soon after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order requiring the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to discard two regulations for each new one it issues. Law360 reached to Finnegan partner Adriana L. Burgy for her thoughts.
Burgy said, "It's kind of hard to pinpoint a regulation that is so glaring that it's clear that it's outdated or inefficient." She noted that in recent years, the USPTO has conducted several reviews of its regulations and the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. She said the USPTO could perhaps review the sizable number of new regulations introduced with the passage of the America Invents Act (AIA). She also said the office might have to be creative in how it puts out regulations in the future to work around the two-for-one rule. "In some instances, maybe new regulations are put out, but they're not called a regulation."
