Kathi Vidal latest of USPTO Directors

It has been a long time coming –?well over a year since her predecessor Andrei Iancu stepped down?–?to the April 5, 2022, Senate confirmation of Kathi Vidal as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Director Vidal will lead the USPTO's 13,000+ employees and its nearly?$4 billion?budget. She also will serve as the principal advisor to the President of?the United States?and the administration, through the Secretary of Commerce, on all intellectual property policy matters.

The Director's signature will appear –?applied electronically, or she would have no time for any other work –?on each of the 7,200 U.S. patents that issue, on average, every Tuesday.

While the business of the USPTO is large and fast-paced, the fact of its leadership is anything but new. The USPTO stopped counting Directors (the title evolved over the years) at 55 as of 2009 (starting in 1802). Three more people have served in that role since 2009, making Director Vidal the 59th such leader.

The U.S. patent system is embodied in the Constitution. It was deemed essential to jump-start the fledgling nation. The first Patent Act was passed by Congress at the urging of George Washington in 1790. It started slowly –?only about 150 patents were issued during the two terms of President Washington –?and he personally signed all of them. It took several decades for the Patent Office to issue the first 7,200 patents, i.e., the same number that are now issued on a weekly basis. The first patents, which were issued without patent numbers, were signed by the President, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General.

The U.S. patent system picked up momentum under the Administration of President Andrew Jackson, who spearheaded the Patent Act of 1836 and the 20-year construction of the U.S. Patent Office, a monumental building that still can be visited today under its new role as the National Portrait Gallery.

It took decades for the Patent Office to issue the first 7,200 patents, i.e., the same number that are now issued on a weekly basis.

The image published with this article is a scan of a patent on a coal stove construction, signed in 1831 by President Jackson, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren, and Attorney General John Berrien, and issued to inventor Urban B.A. Lange. (The original is displayed on the wall in my firm's offices.) What's interesting about this patent is that it was reissued in 1837 under the seal and signature of Commissioner Henry Ellsworth. Reissues were new then; they are rare still. Mr. Lange must have invented a pretty good coal stove, or there wouldn't have been so much fuss over it.

Since 1836, patents have been signed by the head of the Patent Office, though two later Presidents, Gerald Ford and Donald Trump, signed patents on the occasions of the Bicentennial of the Nation and the issuance of U.S. Patent 10,000,000, respectively.

Congratulations, Kathi Vidal, on your confirmation as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). May you continue the long tradition of advancing the progress of the useful arts.