Trump Names Coke Stewart Acting Director of the USPTO

Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Director of the USPTO.

At 12:01pm on Monday, January 20, 2025, a moment after President Donald J. 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 (USPTO). The ceremony took place in Washington, DC, 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 one. Because she has been named as Deputy Undersecretary and Deputy Director, Stewart 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.

As yet, there has been 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 inside the beltway that the person previous viewed as the frontrunner for that position, Intel’s Head 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 in general. 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, himself 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 by those inside and outside the agency. While at the USPTO previously, Stewart served in various senior management roles over more than a decade, ranging from Senior Advisor to Acting Deputy Solicitor to Acting Chief of Staff and ultimately after the conclusion of the first Trump term functionally serving as Deputy Director, with her title then officially having been “Performing the Functions and Duties of Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO.”

In 2021, Stewart left the USPTO to become Deputy Attorney General for Virginia, responsible for the areas of healthcare, education, and social services, a role she held for nearly two years. After stepping down as Deputy Attorney General she joined O’Melveny & Myers LLP, a global law firm with 18 offices and more than 800 lawyers. While at O’Melveny, Stewart, who is a seasoned intellectual property and appellate litigator, primarily practiced representing both patent holders and accused infringers in complex patent matters, including through jury trials in the Eastern District of Texas and the Eastern District of Virginia. A true appellate specialist in the patent space, Stewart has also handled more than 60 Federal Circuit appeals to her name.

As is customary with all agencies, political appointees submit a letter of resignation ahead of a change in Administration, which is typically dated to take effect at 12:00pm on inauguration day. Thus, this ensures a smooth transition between the outgoing Acting Director and Deputy, Derrick Brent, who has been running the agency since former Director Kathi Vidal resigned in December, and Stewart.