USPTO Leadership Vacancies Raise Questions About Squires’ Management and Priorities

Although U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John Squires just officially announced last week that former counsel to Judge Pauline Newman, Greg Dolin, will be the new Deputy General Counsel and Solicitor, following the appointment of John Duffy as General Counsel last month, nearly 14 months after Squires became Director on September 22, 2025, the agency continues to operate with significant leadership vacancies, temporary appointments, and weakened oversight. At a time when the USPTO faces serious challenges involving patent backlogs, examiner retention, and international competition, the absence of permanent leadership across key offices raises increasingly difficult questions about the Director’s management priorities, and the Office’s ability to adequately navigate increasingly difficult times.

The Office Cannot Be Run by Actors

Congress established a deliberate leadership structure for the USPTO under 35 U.S.C. § 3, including a Deputy Director and Commissioners for Patents and Trademarks. Yet all three positions remain occupied by acting officials.

The Commissioner for Patents position has been vacant for nearly 21 months, since Vaishali Udupa departed on February 14, 2025. Barry Schindler became Acting Commissioner on July 27, 2026, succeeding other acting leadership. The Commissioner for Trademarks position has likewise been vacant for more than 20 months, since David Gooder’s five-year term ended February 28, 2025. Dan Vavonese has served as Acting Commissioner since March 2025. Both positions are intended to provide sustained operational leadership through five-year appointments by the Secretary of Commerce.

The Deputy Director position has been without a permanent appointee since August 2, 2026, when Anne Mendez assumed the acting role following Coke Morgan Stewart’s departure. Congress expressly requires the Deputy Director to have a professional background and experience in patent or trademark law. Mendez’s published biography emphasizes her extensive administrative and human resources experience but does not establish whether she meets those statutory qualifications.

Although the Commissioner appointments formally belong to the Secretary of Commerce, Director Squires is responsible for leading the agency and advocating for the qualified, permanent leadership necessary to operate it effectively. All three positions have remained without permanent occupants during his tenure, which should raise alarm bells. The role of someone given an “acting” title is to maintain the status quo until such time as the permanent occupant is installed, at which time that person will begin to move forward on long-term priorities that go beyond addressing day to day emergencies. Not surprisingly, the existence of so many acting officials is significantly impeding the Office’s ability to plan for the future and make much needed changes.

OGA and International Departures

The leadership gaps also extend beyond these statutory positions. The USPTO’s Office of Governmental Affairs (OGA), responsible for congressional engagement, has been operating with an acting head since at least February 2025, which is more than 21 months ago. Until very recently OGA was headed by Acting Director Tamara Foley, but she has just announced that she is leaving the USPTO and moving into the private sector. So, OGA will be getting another acting head, which is particularly concerning. At a time when Congress is being asked to consider major patent legislation and routinely conducts oversight of agency operations, it seems imperative for the USPTO to have stable, permanent leadership interacting with Congress.

The agency’s international policy leadership may also face disruption. IPWatchdog has been told that Mary Critharis, the USPTO’s Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs, is expected to move to Geneva. Although that potential move has not been publicly confirmed, her departure would create another significant leadership gap. The Office of Policy and International Affairs coordinates U.S. positions on international intellectual property issues, including engagement with China, WIPO, and foreign governments. Two of its three deputy policy positions are already held by acting officials.

Advisory Committees Remain in Flux

Perhaps the most serious accountability concern involves the Patent and Trademark Public Advisory Committees. Congress established these committees under 35 U.S.C. § 5 to provide independent oversight of USPTO policies, performance, budgets, and fees. Each committee is required to have nine voting members, with vacancies filled within 90 days. On March 24, 2025, the USPTO announced that all 18 advisory committee seats had become vacant. Although some replacement appointments were announced on September 8, 2025, the committees have not been fully reconstituted. More than 19 months after the original vacancies were announced, the agency still lacks the full independent oversight structure Congress mandated in the statute.

The consequences are tangible. The required FY2025 Patent Public Advisory Committee annual report, which was due November 30, 2025, does not appear in the USPTO’s published collection of reports—nearly a year after the statutory deadline. Federal law requires these reports to be prepared within 60 days after the fiscal year ends and transmitted to the President, Secretary of Commerce, and congressional Judiciary Committees. The FY2026 reports are due November 30, 2026, a deadline seems certain to be missed again.

These reports are not optional administrative exercises. They are congressionally mandated assessments intended to provide independent scrutiny of the agency’s performance, spending, and management.

Signs of a Broader Problem?

Director Squires cannot personally make every appointment. Some require action by the Secretary of Commerce. But as the agency’s chief executive and principal intellectual property adviser to the administration, he does bear responsibility for identifying leadership needs, recommending qualified candidates, coordinating with Commerce, and ensuring that statutory oversight mechanisms function. These are the most basic responsibilities of an agency head, and by all outward appearances they are not being fulfilled.

Acting appointments are sometimes necessary during transitions. But nearly 14 months into this directorship, the accumulation of vacancies, the absence of permanent leadership in critical operational and policy offices, and the apparent failure to produce required oversight reports suggest a broader management problem that should concern all stakeholders.