Darrell Issa

“The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians is a critically important civic and cultural institution to our Southern California community, and I know they will carry out its rightful stewardship with precision and care to preserve and protect the tribal lands,” said Rep. Issa. “We worked diligently to introduce this legislation that will allow Pechanga to address important community concerns, and my thanks go to Senator Padilla for his partnership and support of our tribal communities across California.”

“The Pechanga Water Settlement Amendments legislation builds upon the original settlement act that I was proud to sponsor. This bill provides important technical amendments that the Pechanga Band of Indians and all stakeholders support. I appreciate my colleague, Rep. Issa, sponsoring this legislation,” said Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-41).

Issa noted the significant reforms and improvements of this Administration’s USPTO, specifically efforts to “advance President Trump’s Artificial Intelligence agenda through clear guidelines that support the use of AI as a tool for innovation and accelerate the agency’s use of AI to improve patent examination.” Issa further stated that Director Squires had “effectively implemented the President’s Executive Orders on federal personnel policies while admirably finding, hiring and maintaining the USPTO’s vital workforce.”

Issa also presented in detail his strong endorsement of the office’s Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB), which he described as “an important check that enables the targets of abusive patent litigation to get faster, cheaper adjudication of patent validity utilizing judges with a track record of doing their jobs accurately and efficiently.” Issa urged Director Squires to “fully consider the clear and undeniably positive difference that PTABhas made, and as a signature element of the America Invents Act, it should not be ignored or cast aside.”