For better or worse, the contentious litigation surrounding big-name technology companies and smartphone patents has become synonymous with the intellectual property community in recent months. But although some industry insiders have lamented this development, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director David Kappos has taken it all as an encouraging indicator.

In a recent update to Congress, Kappos reported that the vast majority of America Invents Act implementation efforts have arrived on schedule. According to CIO.com, he also made it clear that his office interprets the current technology "patent wars" as nothing less than a ringing endorsement of the culture of innovation that the AIA was intended to create.

"With adoption of the AIA, Congress has enabled the USPTO to promote a new vision of an IP world in which national and regional patent systems are coordinated to create an optimal environment for technological innovation globally," Kappos explained in his testimony. "Passage of the AIA has provided an opportunity to restart long-stalled discussions with our foreign counterparts toward substantive harmonization that will help U.S. businesses succeed in a global environment."

Kappos also candidly discussed some of the progress yet to be made. According to Law.com, the USPTO director revealed that the average patent resolution timetable has been condensed from 34 months to 16 months, but a lingering backlog demands that his team continues to build on this achievement as opposed to resting on its laurels.