Vidal confirmed as the USPTO director
Kathi Vidal has been confirmed as the new permanent director of the US Patent and Trademark Office by the US Senate in a voice vote yesterday.
Vidal succeeds former permanent director Andrei Iancu who stepped down from the role in January 2021. Since then, the office has been headed by interim director Drew Hirshfeld.
She will also take the role of undersecretary of commerce for IP and serve as the principal advisor to the president and the administration on all IP policy matters.
In a testimony before the senate, Vidal said: "I have seen our IP system at its best: incentivising research and development that leads to new technologies and improvements to existing technology.
“I have also seen that we can do better—that we can work together to build an IPsystem that is more predictable, reliable, and transparent."
Vidal served as managing partner of Winston & Strawn's Silicon Valley office and has represented clients on IP matters before the US district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), the USPTO and at appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court.
California senator Diane Feinstein said during the hearing: “She (Vidal) clerked on the Federal Circuit and has spent 25 years as an IP litigator in private practice. It is very clear to me that she has a very deep knowledge of IP law and the important work conducted by the USPTO. This will truly serve her well."
Vidal noted that she was “prepared for the challenges we face” and is committed to focusing the IP system to become one "in which the American people and our inventors, creators, and investors will have even more confidence”.
The road ahead
When queried about how she would lead the office in December last year, Vidal claimed that she would focus on building a “more predictable, reliable and transparent” IP system.
She faced several questions from senators on issues such as patent eligibility under Section 101, Fintiv, and drug pricing, but largely avoided giving definitive answers and solutions to the hot-button topics.
Speaking on how she would address the issue of clarity under Section 101 patent eligibility, she said:
“I think that is an area that is always deserving of attention because the law is not set, every single Federal Circuit judge has said that it is very difficult to understand the contours of the law.”
She is also the first senate-appointed director since last year’s Supreme Court ruling in US v Arthrex, which gives the USPTO’s director the ability to overturn decisions made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
The interim director of the USPTO Drew Hirshfeld granted the first USPTO director the power to review a written decision from the PTAB in November last year, and it has since reviewed a decision that invalidated a Samsung lithium battery patent.
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