Friday, February 10, 2012

PTO Director: Gym Bunny, Multitasker

February 27, 2008

I'm so happy to hear that I'm not the only intellectual policy watcher who enjoys hitting the gym regularly. I'm prone to reading congressional testimony on the elliptical machine or catching up with e-mails while I'm stair-stepping but when Patent and Trademark Office Director Jon Dudas gets a workout -- he's a true multitasker.

At a House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing on PTO oversight, Dudas told members that he likes to chat with employees at his agency's fitness center about ways to improve examiner productivity and contentment. The PTO has been criticized for its backlog of patent applications and employee retention problems.

After ticking off a number of complaints about working conditions at the agency, veteran examiner Robert Budens got a good-natured ribbing from Michigan Democrat John Conyers, who chairs the full committee. "Would going to the gym more with Mr. Dudas help you?" Conyers asked. "One look at me says it may help me in some ways… but I’m not sure it would help improve our relationship," responded Budens, who is heavyset.

Read more about the PTO hearing in CongressDaily's AM on Thursday.

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Juliana Gruenwald

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Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


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Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.