Yesterday, President Obama announced that he was appointing Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to become the next Secretary of Commerce, a significant position in the intellectual property world.  As Secretary of Commerce, Gregg will oversee the PTO and have a strong voice in any patent reform that might occur while he is Secretary.  The blogosphere and mainstream media are slowly providing background regarding Gregg:*

• Patently-O
• Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog (highlighting this Congressional Quarterly article which points out that Gregg once voted to abolish the Department of Commerce).
• Washington Post’s 44 Blog.

*  I will update this post with more links if I see anything especially valuable.