Patent office chief to depart; deputy may be in line for job

The announcement by Patent and Trademark Office Director James Rogan that he is leaving the Bush administration in January should pave the way for his deputy, Jon Dudas, to assume the top job, individuals close to the patent office said on Tuesday.

Rogan has served for two years as the Commerce Department's undersecretary for intellectual property. He has spearheaded a legislative initiative aimed at bolstering the quality of the patent-review process by improving the agency's operations and by using higher application fees to increase the number of examiners.

Dudas currently is the deputy undersecretary for intellectual property and deputy director of PTO. Under law, he becomes the acting director when Rogan resigns Jan. 9. Rogan is leaving to complete work on his autobiography, "Rough Edges," which is scheduled to be published next summer by HarperCollins.

Others close to the office expect Dudas to receive the president's nomination as director, and many said Dudas already is running the agency. On Monday, he gave the keynote address at the agency's "PTO Day" and has represented the office on various recent occasions.

At the Dec. 2 dedication of the new PTO headquarters in Alexandria, Va., Dudas served as master of ceremonies and thanked the audience for attending the ceremony, signaling the opening of the first of five buildings the agency ultimately will occupy. Commerce official Sam Bodman referred to Dudas and Rogan as "managing the U.S. PTO."

"Jim Rogan is the director who has put PTO reform on the Washington agenda, and that is a major accomplishment," said Herb Wamsley, executive director of Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).

Rogan's new fee proposal is dubbed the "21st-century strategic plan" and was revised after initial objections by patent owners. The plan is embodied in a bill, H.R. 1561, and as approved by the House Judiciary Committee, that bill would take PTO out of the annual appropriations process.

"[Rogan] developed that [plan] and promoted that within the government, on Capitol Hill, in the private sector, and it is very widely supported," Wamsley said. "The 21st Century Strategic Plan is PTO reform, and he is the person who did that."

Dudas, who has served as Rogan's deputy since January 2002, was the counsel for legal policy and senior floor assistant to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. He previously served as deputy general counsel for the House Judiciary Committee and as counsel on then Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

He also practiced law in Chicago at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago. Dudas was traveling and unavailable for comment.

"To me, the interesting question is how much [Dudas] is tied to the plan," said another attorney close to PTO. "Or how much does he have to divert from the plan because of the overwhelming funding realities?"