Michelle K. Lee, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for more than two years, submitted a letter of resignation on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 6, 2017.
Lee was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed to the role in March 2015. A former Google executive who advocated strongly for women and minorities, Lee took the helm of the patent office at a pivotal time for the technology industry.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has named USPTO Associate Solicitor Joseph Matal to perform the functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO effective June 7, 2017. Matal will continue to serve in this role through the nomination and confirmation process of a new Under Secretary and Director.
As an Associate Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal has briefed and argued appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court, and assisted in the development of legal positions taken by the U.S. Solicitor General in patent and copyright cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Matal recently served as acting Chief of Staff for the USPTO, and advised former Director Lee on legislative matters.
Matal previously served as the General Counsel of the Judiciary Committee for former Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and as a Judiciary Committee Counsel to former Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In that role, Matal was the principal staff drafter and negotiator of legislation that became the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the first comprehensive patent law overhaul since 1952. Matal has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
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