US Senate confirms Trump's pick to run US Patent and Trademark Office

By Blake Brittain

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed John Squires, a former chief intellectual property attorney at banking giant Goldman Sachs GS.N, to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under Republican President Donald Trump.

Squires will head the USPTO as it faces increasing competition with China on innovation and novel questions about the role of artificial intelligence in inventing. His confirmation also follows an unprecedented order from the U.S. Department of Commerce to review and potentially seize patents from Harvard University amid a White House pressure campaign over alleged failures to address campus antisemitism.

Squires was confirmed as part of a push from Senate Republicans on Thursday to install dozens of Trump nominees at once over Democratic opposition.

Since leaving Goldman in 2009, Squires has practiced at corporate law firms, most recently focusing on AI, blockchain technology and cybersecurity at Dilworth Paxson in New York and teaching law at the University of Pennsylvania. His background also includes stints as an intellectual property attorney at international conglomerate Honeywell HON.O and at law firms Chadbourne & Parke and Perkins Coie.

The USPTO is responsible for issuing U.S. patents and trademarks and advising the government on intellectual property policy. The office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews the validity of existing patents and is often used by tech companies and others seeking to cancel patents they are accused of infringing.

Trump nominated Squires in March to lead the office. He succeeds Kathi Vidal, the USPTO's director under the Democratic Biden administration, who returned to her former law firm Winston & Strawn after Trump won the 2024 election.