Kathi Vidal, former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property

Last day at USPTO & U.S. Department of Commerce and serving in the incredible Biden Administration! All I have is gratitude and pride for all we - across the administration and at home at USPTO - have been able to do together for the American people. ???? And we could not have done it without our friends in Congress and all the stakeholders from individuals to companies to organizations. From the bottom of my heart - thank you all! ??????

The USPTO announced the appointment of ten new members to its Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2). Learn more about the council members. https://lnkd.in/esitVnRx

Signed my second-to-last international MOU today (with Laos ????). So glad our SE Asia team happened to be in town for meetings and could join for the signing. It was particularly meaningful for me because I was the first USPTO Director to have ever gone to Laos, and this agreement was years in the making. Go team USPTO!

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA) have signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the first time in more than 38 years. The CBA, which was last updated in 1986, sets a government-leading standard for federal government labor relations by guaranteeing pre-decisional involvement and labor-management collaboration. “This landmark agreement — a generational accomplishment — represents the USPTO’s commitment to strengthening the partnership between members of POPA and management,” said Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. “It supports our standards to create a space for thoughtful collaboration while also preserving the many characteristics that make the USPTO such a unique and vibrant place to work for years to come.”

This is our future! Our children innovating and securing patent protection. Congrats inventor Kasra Karimi and dad - USPTO’s own Pegeman Karimi!

Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property has been named one of Managing IP's Top 50 most influential people in IP worldwide.? ? Vidal joined the USPTO in 2022, leading one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world – a $4.2 billion operation with more than 14,000 employees. Under her leadership, the agency has reduced inventory in unexamined trademark applications, hired more than 900 examiners in the last year alone and expanded resources to support women and underserved entrepreneurs.? ? Managing IP’s Top 50 most influential people list includes industry leaders, public officials, IP authorities, judges and notable individuals?across the globe. Other IP heads who made the list include Moe Moe Thwe of Myanmar,?Jo?o Negr?o of the European Union, Konstantinos Georgaras of Canada, Alexander Ramsay and António Campinos of the European Patent Office, Daren Tang of the World Intellectual Property Office and Júlio César Moreira of Brazil.?

Today, I had the pleasure of swearing in the USPTO's new PPAC & TPAC members. Congratulations and thank you new PPAC members Jennifer Yokoyama, Idris McKelvey & Maria Culic Anderson and new TPAC members Sanjana Sharma, Michael Moore & Thad Chaloemtiarana!

Patents help generate more than $8 trillion in economic activity each year in U.S. intellectual property intensive industries and are key to incentivizing innovation and investment and growing America’s economy. In the latest blog from Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, learn what we’re doing to support a robust and reliable patent system, including process improvements, continuous quality assessments, and keeping our examiners up to date on the latest technologies: https://bit.ly/3BiyKbQ

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Ten new members have joined the USPTO’s Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2), tasked with increasing opportunity and developing initiatives to increase the number of U.S. innovators. The Council this week met at the White House to discuss an action plan to adopt and implement the USPTO’s National Strategy for Inclusive Innovation to grow the economy, create quality jobs, and address global challenges. Since the Council was formed in 2020, it has launched a program to expedite examination of patent applications from first-time filers and an innovation internship program. New Council members are: ? Christopher James, President and CEO, The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development ? Hervé Hoppenot, President and CEO, Incyte ? Liren Chen, President and CEO, InterDigital, Inc. ? Megan Smith, CEO and Founder, shift7 ? Pamela Melroy, Deputy Administrator, NASA ? Rory Cooper, National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Pittsburgh ? Grant Warner, Executive Director, Center for Black Entrepreneurship ? Wendy Lea, Co-Founder and Partner, TechHubNow! ? Mae Jemison, Founder, The Jemison Group, Inc. ? Tony Allen, President, Delaware State University Learn more about the Council: https://bit.ly/49sFsbD