The Department of Commerce announced late today that Secretary Wilbur Ross has named Joseph Matal as Interim USPTO Director.  Mr. Matal is currently Associate Solicitor General in the Office, and worked as a staffer for Senators Kyl, Sessions, and Fitzgerald.  He also wrote a monograph describing the legislative history of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (A Guide to the Legislative History of the America Invents Act: Part I and Part II).