Commissioner for Patents Resigns after a ‘Fork in The Road’
Vaishali Udupa
IPWatchdog has learned that Commissioner for Patents Vaishali Udupa has notified the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that she is resigning effective immediately. Udupa submitted her resignation to take advantage the deferred resigning program –known by the name Fork in the Road — offered by President Donald J. Trump in an email sent to federal workers on January 28, 2025.
The program of deferred resigning, widely understood to be an attempt to shrink the federal government’s workforce, was announced in an initial email sent to federal employees on the 28th of January 2025. Federal employees were required to choose by 11:59pm on February 6, 2025 whether they wanted an eight-month severance program that would allow them full pay and benefits without having to perform any work. Earlier today, the United States Federal District Court of Massachusetts issued an order extending the deadline to at least Monday, Feb 10, 2025. On Monday, February 10, a hearing will be held to determine the legality of government’s offer. The offer for eight-months severance is being challenged by several government unions as arbitrary and unlawful.
Udupa became Commissioner for Patents in December 2023, spending less than 18-months in the position. She was the head of litigation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise before joining the USPTO. She was responsible for HPE’s intellectual-property litigation and formulating case strategy. Udupa replaced Acting Commissioner for Patents Andrew Faile, who served as Acting Commissioner after the retirement of Drew Hirshfeld, who was Commissioner for Patents from 2015 until his retirement from the Office in January 2022.
Well-known within the patent community as an advocate for diversity , Udupa joined the USPTO as a relative outsider. She was a highly regarded trial attorney but had no experience in prosecution, which caused tensions within the Office. The Commissioner for Patents is effectively the head of the patent operation at the Office and responsible for examiners and examination policy, and has historically been a career senior executive employee who has typically risen through the ranks at the Office, often starting out as an examiner.
Valencia Martin Wallace
Deputy Commissioner Valencia Martin Wallace will immediately assume the role of Acting Commissioner for Patents. Wallace, who has worked for the USPTO for nearly three decades, is well-liked and highly respected by her colleagues. She has held multiple roles, including Deputy Commissioner of Patent Quality and Assistant Vice Commissioner for Patent Operations. Wallace holds a B.S. She holds a B.S. She also holds a certificate in Advanced Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Administration.
Gene Quinn
Gene Quinn is an expert on patent law, innovation policy and patent law. Mr. Quinn was twice named as one of the 50 most influential people in the world […see more].
