New Acting Director for USPTO

IP veteran and litigator Coke Morgan Stewart sworn in 1 minute after Trump takes office

BY GENE QUINN

All Eye on Washington stories originally appeared
at IPWatchdog.com.

At 12:01 p.m. on January 20, a minute after President Donald Trump took the oath of office to start his second term as president, Coke Morgan Stewart was sworn in as the new deputy undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and deputy director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The ceremony took place in Washington, D.C., at the United States Department of Commerce.

The position of deputy director is not a Senate-confirmable position, which allows the Trump Administration to place Stewart into the agency on Day 1. She will immediately begin serving as acting undersecretary and acting director of the USPTO and will assume the role of deputy upon Senate confirmation of whoever President Trump ultimately selects to be the next undersecretary and director.

There is no word on who President Trump will nominate to be the next undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO, although it is widely believed that the person previously viewed as the frontrunner for that position, Intel’s director of IP policy Vishal Amin, is no longer a candidate. Interviews for the position continue.

Stewart is known to be a strong believer in the U.S. patent system and patent rights. She is widely expected to be an ally to all innovators but particularly to startups, small- and medium-size enterprises and highly IP-intensive research and development companies that survive only because of the rights conferred by a U.S. patent.

In fact, she is believed to share a similar philosophy on patents with Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of commerce. Lutnick, a prolific inventor who has made many millions of dollars with his patented inventions, seems by all accounts to be very strongly pro-patent.

Stewart is no stranger to the USPTO, and those who have spoken with IPWatchdog have indicated that while at the office she was well liked and highly respected inside and outside the agency. Previously at the USPTO, Stewart served in various senior management roles over more than a decade, ranging from senior adviser to acting deputy solicitor to acting chief of staff.

In 2021, Stewart left the USPTO to become deputy attorney general for Virginia, responsible for the areas of health care, education and social services—a role she held for nearly two years. She then joined O’Melveny & Myers LLP, a global law firm with 18 offices and more than 800 lawyers. She primarily practiced representing both patent holders and accused infringers in complex patent matters.

She replaces Derrick Brent, who has been running the agency since former Director Kathi Vidal left in mid-December.