Patent Office Executive Takes Trump’s Deferred Resignation Deal

A US Patent and Trademark Office executive who managed key appeals at the agency’s tribunal and previously served as solicitor accepted President Donald Trump‘s voluntary resignation officer for federal employees.

Thomas Krause announced his resignation on LinkedIn on Monday, saying that he “took the fork” and would be departing the agency this week.

“For those I’ve left behind in the USPTO and the various other government institutions I’ve worked with, I’m sorry – you are some of the most talented and hardworking people I’ve had the privilege of knowing, and your credentials, special skills, institutional knowledge, and dedication to the public interest would make you irreplaceable in a rational world,” he wrote.

Krause, who joined the office in 2002, served as PTO solicitor from 2019 to 2023. He was the first to hold the the director review executive position, overseeing requests for the director to reconsider Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions. The tribunal reviews validity challenges to existing patents.

At the Solicitor’s Office, Krause argued numerous cases before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and crafted the agency’s positions in Supreme Court cases, according to the PTO. He received the Burton Award for public service in the government in 2023.

Trump’s executive order mandating full-time office work for federal staff is triggering significant changes at the PTO, where 96% of its employees telework, according to a 2023 report. Terminations have since followed across the federal government spurred by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, but appear to have spared the PTO thus far.

Administrative patent judges at the PTAB were told Feb. 4 they could be expected to return to office as soon as Feb. 24. Many PTAB officials are spread out across the country, far from official federal offices.

Most patent examiners have so far been exempt from the return-to-office directive under an exemption for employees covered by the agency’s collective bargaining agreement.