Kathi Vidal, Director of the USPTO, Announces her resignation in early December
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We have fulfilled our mission to proactively protect and promote strong intellectual properties to lift communities, to create better jobs, and to foster the American innovation spirit in everyone. We have been successful due to our commitment to putting employee first.” – Outgoing USPTO director Kathi Vidal
On Tuesday, following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election last week, Kathi Vidal announced on her LinkedIn page that she had informed the USPTO employees she would be resigning her post by the second week of December. Deputy Director Derrick Brent will take over until the incoming Trump Administration appoints a new Director.
Brent was sworn in as Deputy Director in August of 2022 and hails from both the public and private sectors, most recently serving as a consultant advising startups on IP and other issues. Brent was a consultant for Cut Golf, a golf apparel and equipment company in its early stages. He was also Chief Counsel for Senator Barbara Boxer for six years and was known to be “a respected expert on 2011’s America Invents Act,” as a USPTO release stated at the time of appointment. He clerked for the Honorable Algenon L. Marbley, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, served as a litigator with the law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP in Ohio, and as a Senior Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
Prior to Brent’s appointment, the Deputy Director position had been essentially vacant for some time. Drew Hirshfeld was the former Commissioner for Patents who had “performed the functions and duties” of the Director since the departure of the former Director Andrei Iancu in January 2021. He became the Acting Deputy director upon Vidal’s inauguration in April 2022. David Berdan performed the functions and responsibilities of the Deputy director before that after Coke Stewart, who had been performing the duties and functions of the Director before him, left to join the faculty of Regent University School of Law. Laura Peter was the Deputy Director for Iancu.
Brent, who is also an engineer, worked at General Motors before becoming a lawyer. He was an engineer at the company’s powertrain unit and managed the engineering, business and operations of multiple subcontracted facilities across the country. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern University School of Law (now the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law).
Accomplishments
Vidal in her announcement today characterized her time at the Office as having “transformed the USPTO” together with her team, and dubbed their accomplishments “unprecedented.”
“We have executed on our mission to proactively defend and promote strong intellectual property to lift communities, create better jobs, and foster the American innovative spirit in everyone,” Vidal wrote. “And we’ve been successful because our commitment to putting employee first.” At IPWatchdog LIVE 2024 they did not comment on Vidal in particular but rather on the USPTO. They also joined former Commissioner for Patents Bob Stoll, IPWatchdog’s Gene Quinn, and former USPTO directors Andrei Iancu, and David Kappos on a panel where they discussed the current state of the USPTO. They said that examiner and employee motivation was one of the Office’s most pressing issues. The USPTO used to be ranked #1 on the list of Best Places to Work for the Federal Government, but today it is ranked #236. The Office moved up in the rankings under the leadership of Kappos, who said he achieved that through “a lot of little things but it does come down to empowerment of the career employees.” Today, said Kappos, “the agency has become a lot more political and there’s no advancement of career employees.”
The agency’s ranking has been steadily falling for some time now, however. It hasn’t been in the top spot since 2013 and has steadily declined since then. Vidal issued a number of requests for comments and proposed rules during her term, some of which were highly controversial. She wrote, “I will move back into the private sectors and work with individuals and businesses directly, committed to our mission.” She previously worked as a patent litigator and managing partner of the Silicon Valley office of Winston & Strawn.
Vidal was the second woman to be confirmed by the Senate to the position of USPTO Director.
Eileen McDermott
Eileen McDermott, Editor-in Chief of IPWatchdog.com is a veteran IP and legal journalist. Eileen McDermott is a veteran IP journalist and has held editorial and management positions at
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