Trump Nominates John Squires as USPTO Director: Here’s What to Watch

Key points 

• President Trump has nominated John Squires as Director of the USPTO. Squires is currently chair of the Emerging Companies and IP practice at Dilworth Paxson LLP. 
• Squires has an extensive background in both patent litigation and prosecution and has focused much of his career on FinTech and risk management.  
• The three key issues to watch as Squires takes the helm are patent eligibility, post-grant proceedings, and the patent application backlog. 

On March 10, President Trump nominated John Squires as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Squires currently serves as chair of the Emerging Companies and IP practice at Dilworth Paxson LLP, a position he has held since 2017. His practice focuses on artificial intelligence, blockchain and cryptocurrency, FinTech, and RegTech.  

Squires began his career at Morgan & Finnegan in 1992, where he practiced both patent prosecution and litigation, before moving to Clifford Chance LLP representing clients in the chemical, biotech, pharma, technology, and manufacturing sectors. He then moved in-house at Honeywell, where he managed a worldwide portfolio of over 1,000 patents related to advanced materials, heads-up displays, and optical waveguide materials. Perhaps his most notable role was as chief IP counsel at Goldman Sachs from 2000-2009, a position in which he founded the bank’s IP practice. He then served as co-chair of the IP group at Chadbourne & Parke LLP and as an IP partner at Perkins Coie LLP.  

He has focused much of his career on FinTech and risk management. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while at Goldman Sachs, Squires and representatives from other banks structured, formed, and launched Regulatory DataCorp., Inc., a FinTech platform aimed at combatting terrorism, money laundering, and organized crime. Since 2013, he has served as counsel to the board of directors of Risk Assistance Network + Exchange, a proprietary platform that helps organizations identify and mitigate operational risks. In 2016, he co-founded FinClusive, a hybrid FinTech/RegTech platform that provides compliance-focused financial services for traditionally underserved organizations, and he continues to sit on its board of directors. Squires also teaches legal writing at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. 

Takeaways 

There are three issues to watch as Squires takes the lead at the USPTO: patent eligibility, post-grant proceedings, and the growing patent application backlog. 

• Patent eligibility. Squires was the co-author of a Bilski v. Kappos amicus brief in 2008, which advocated for patent eligibility standards that seem to be significantly broader than what current Office policy permits, particularly for inventions relating to finance and banking. Thus, it’s an open question whether Squires will seek to expand patent eligibility policy at the USPTO or whether later-decided cases such as Mayo and Alice will effectively constrain changes to USPTO patent eligibility standards. Still, with patent eligibility having been considered in the last Congress under the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, his prior views seemingly align with the provisions of that bill.   
• Post-grant proceedings. In 2007, Squires testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of post-grant proceedings for challenging issued patents at the USPTO. The subsequent legislation established the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and its inter partes review system.   
• Patent application backlog. Squires very recently expressed alarm at the growing backlog of pending patent applications, noting that "for start-ups and emerging companies, elongated pendencies can be a death sentence." Thus, industry should welcome Squires’ prioritization of resources to address this growing concern.   

Above all, the role of Director sits at the intersection of both policy and operational responsibilities. While many changes are underway, the appointment of the Director will bridge the chain-of-command between the policy objectives of the administration and the operational requirements of industry at the Office. And, with Congress likely to consider new legislation, the Director will almost certainly be asked to weigh in on it. 

The USPTO is a key pillar of the innovation economy, and we expect that the Director will have a strong voice to ensure that innovation increases economic productivity.