Patent Office Chief Names Deshpande as Appeals Board’s Top Judge

The US Patent and Trademark Office director John Squires formally announced the new chief judge of the agency’s appeals board that reviews challenges to the validity of patents.

Kalyan Deshpande, the acting chief judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, is taking over the position on a more permanent basis, according to an email Squires sent to staff Monday that was reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

Deshpande was a vice chief judge at the PTAB before being reassigned as the acting chief in August by then-acting PTO director Coke Morgan Stewart. The former chief judge, Scott ...