Farheena Rasheed to Serve as Acting Vice Chief Administrative PTAB Judge

Farheena Rasheed

IPWatchdog has learned that Farheena Rasheed has been asked by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to serve as one of the Acting Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Rasheed will immediately move to the PTAB. Until this move, Rasheed served as Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor, which made her the chief litigator for the USPTO.

The reason for Rasheed being asked to move from the Solicitor’s Office to the PTAB is because the PTAB is a bit shorthanded, with multiple vacancies on the senior leadership team at the PTAB and recent retirements at the PTAB by individuals who resigned as a part of the deferred resignation program offered by President Trump to federal employees. Multiple sources have told IPWatchdog that approximately a dozen APJs elected to resign and take the eight months of severance offered by President Trump. Separately, Janet Gongola has moved from the PTAB where she served as Vice Chief Judge for Strategy and Engagement to become Acting Director of Communications.

Rasheed is expected to provide the PTAB with expertise in administrative law and America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings, which as Solicitor she has been defending at the Federal Circuit. Her expertise is expected to help the Board during this transition period and is not at all unusual. The Solicitor’s Office has long been a springboard to a position as a judge, including Nate Kelley who became Acting Chief Judge, Scott Wiedenfeller who became Vice Chief Judge, and Gongola who served in the Solicitor’s Office earlier in her nearly 20-year career at the USPTO. And, of course, Raymond Chen served as Solicitor before serving on the Federal Circuit, where he continues to serve as an Article III judge today.

Rasheed, an experienced litigator, joined the USPTO Solicitors Office in 2010 as an associate Solicitor for patent litigation. She ascended through the ranks serving as associate Solicitor, senior legal counsel for patent litigation, and Deputy Solicitor, Acting Solicitor and, since June 2024, Solicitor. She has spearheaded the USPTO’s work in appeals to PTAB AIA proceedings in federal court, defended the USPTO in statutory, regulatory, and constitutional challenges, and played a role in the development of USPTO rules, guidelines, and policies.