On Monday, President Trump's nomination for Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, John A. Squires, was submitted to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. Mr. Squires is currently a partner at Dilworth Paxson LLP in New York. His Dilworth Paxson biography indicates that Mr. Squires' practice area is litigation, that he is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and that he has a B.S. in Chemistry from Bucknell University.
Mr. Squires' firm biography also indicates that he is "globally recognized as one of the world's leading attorneys in advanced technologies and intellectual property, including AI, Blockchain, Fintech/Regtech Cybersecurity, and Risk," "led the creation of the United States' first patent asset-backed finance platform for one of the world’s leading funds," and "co-founded, launched, and sits on the board of numerous IP and risk-related businesses, including Regulatory DataCorp, the Risk Assistance Network + Exchange (RANE), and FinClusive." His biography further notes that in response to the 9/11 attacks, he helped establish an anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing information, and analytics business.
According to his LinkedIn page, Mr. Squires served as Chief IP Counsel for Goldman Sachs from 2000 to 2009, was co-chair of the IP Group at Chadbourne & Parke LLP from 2009 to 2012, was a partner at Perkins Coie LLP from 2012 to 2016, has been a Strategic Advisor to the Risk Assistance Network + Exchange (RANE) since 2013, has been a Board Member and Corporate Secretary and Co-Founder of FinClusive since 2016, and has been a partner at Dilworth Paxson since 2017.
If confirmed, Mr. Squires would become the twelfth person to serve as Director or Acting Director (or perform the duties of the Director) since July of 2004. Three Directors have been nominated by new incoming Administrations over that time: David Kappos, who served as Director from August 13, 2009 to January 31, 2013; Andrei Iancu, who served as Director from February 8, 2018 to January 19, 2021; and Kathi Vidal, who served as Director from April 13, 2022 to December 16, 2024. Given yesterday's nomination, Mr. Squires, once confirmed, could begin his tenure as Director earlier than two of those three former Directors.
Additional information regarding Mr. Squires' nomination can be found at IPWatchdog, Reuters, and Bloomberg Law.
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