Kathi Vidal

Under Secretary, Commerce for Intellectual Property / Director, USPTO

Kathi Vidal serves as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 

the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – America’s Innovation Agency.

As the chief executive of the USPTO, she leads one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices 

in the world, with more than 13,000 public servants and an annual budget of more than $4 billion. 

She is the principal IP advisor to the President and the Administration, through the Secretary of 

Commerce, and is focused on incentivizing and protecting U.S. innovation, entrepreneurship, and 

creativity. Named one of Managing IP’s top 50 most influential people in IP in 2022, she leads an 

agency whose mission is to help American workers and businesses compete and collaborate,

 especially in ground-breaking technologies and across all demographics. As Director of the USPTO, 

Vidal is working to expand American innovation for and from all, and to bring more ideas to impact, 

including serving as the Vice Chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI²), alongside 

Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo and the Council members, , a Co-Chair of the National 

Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), and the Co-Founder, with the Secretary, 

of the Women’s Entrepreneurship (WE) initiative. 

Director Vidal grew up in a career military family and spent her childhood on military bases in the 

United States, Panama, Germany, and the Azorean Islands (Portugal). She learned the value of

 hard work, financial security, and education from her parents, who often held multiple jobs and 

attended classes at night and on weekends to earn their bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Her interest in science led her to attend Binghamton University at the age of 16, where she received 

her bachelor’s in electrical engineering. Before graduating, she started her career at General Electric (GE) 

Aerospace (later Lockheed Martin). She was selected into the Edison Engineering Program and 

pursued her master’s in electrical engineering in Syracuse University’s night program. During her time 

at GE, she designed one of the first artificial intelligence systems for aircraft, as well as aircraft and 

engine-control systems that continue to keep our military safe today. 

Recognizing the value of innovation, Director Vidal pursued a career in IP. She put herself through 

law school and obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was 

Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. After clerking for Judge Alvin Anthony Schall 

on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Director Vidal joined Fish & Richardson P.C., 

where she became a recognized expert on IP law, led a litigation group of 270 attorneys in 11 global offices,

 and served on the firm’s Management Committee. She later joined Winston & Strawn LLP, where she served 

on the firm’s Executive Committee and was Managing Partner of its Silicon Valley office. Throughout 

her career, Director Vidal has represented new innovators and startup companies with limited resources.

She has also represented many of our country’s most successful and well-known companies. 

Director Vidal has helped harness and protect innovation at all levels. Prior to joining the USPTO, 

she represented both patent holders and defendants in U.S. district courts and the International Trade

 Commission. She has also been deeply involved in practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), 

argued numerous Federal Circuit appeals, and led amicus efforts on important cases before the

 Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court. She has received many awards as a top litigator and was inducted

 into the Litigation Counsel of America, a society of the leading American trial lawyers.

Director Vidal has spent her career championing the importance of mentoring and expanding opportunities 

to include more individuals from underserved communities. She has played an active role on the 

advisory board of Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPs), a network of women leaders in technology, law, 

and policy, and on other boards and committees focused on diversity and inclusion, and has mentored 

diverse women across the globe as part of the Fortune-U.S. Department of State Global Women’s 

Mentoring Partnership program. She builds on that work today.

Director Vidal lives with her family and rescue dogs Oliver and Jack.