List of people who have headed the United States Patent Office

Following is a list of persons who have headed the United States Patent Office . The title associated with this function has changed over time, from Superintendent of Patents to Commissioner of Patents to Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. The duties of the office have also evolved significantly, including coming to encompass the supervision of trademark issuance as well as that of patents.

No.	Portrait	Patent Office Head [1]	Began service	Ended service	Refs.
Commissioners for the Promotion of Useful Arts or Patent Board [2]
		Edmund Randolph Henry Knox Thomas Jefferson	1790	1793
Secretary of State [a] [2]
		Edmund Randolph	1794	1795
		Timothy Pickering	1795	May 12, 1800
		John Marshall	May 13, 1800	March 4, 1801
		James Madison	March 5, 1801	1802
Superintendent of Patents [3] [2] [4]
1		William Thornton	June 1, 1802	March 28, 1828	[5]
2		Thomas P. Jones	April 12, 1828	June 10, 1829	[6]
3		John D. Craig	June 11, 1829	February 1, 1835	[7]
4		James Chamberlayne Pickett	February 1, 1835	May 1835	[8]
Commissioner of Patents (Patent Act of July 4, 1836) [3] [4]
5		Henry Leavitt Ellsworth	July 8, 1835	April 1, 1845 [b]	[9]
6		Edmund Burke	May 4, 1845	1849	[10]
7		Thomas Ewbank	May 9, 1849	1852	[11]
8		Silas H. Hodges	November 8, 1852	1853	[12]
9		Charles Mason	May 16, 1853	August 5, 1857	[13]
10		Joseph Holt	September 10, 1857	Mar 1859	[14]
11		William D. Bishop	May 27, 1859	1860	[15]
12		Philip Francis Thomas	February 16, 1860	December 10, 1860	[16]
13		David P. Holloway	March 28, 1861	1865	[17]
14		Thomas Clarke Theaker	August 17, 1865	January 20, 1868	[18]
15		Elisha Foote	July 29, 1868	Mar 1869	[19]
16		Samuel S. Fisher	April 26, 1869	November 10, 1870	[20]
17		Mortimer Dormer Leggett	January 16, 1871	1874	[21]
18		John M. Thacher	November 4, 1874	October 1, 1875	[22]
19		R. Holland Duell	October 1, 1875	1877	[23]
20		Ellis Spear	January 30, 1877	1878	[24]
21		Halbert E. Paine	November 1, 1878	1880	[25]
22		Edgar M. Marble	May 7, 1880	1883	[26]
23		Benjamin Butterworth	November 1, 1883	1885	[27]
24		Martin V. Montgomery	March 23, 1885	1887	[28]
25		Benton Jay Hall	April 12, 1887	1889	[29]
26		Charles Elliott Mitchell	April 1, 1889	1891	[30]
27		William E. Simonds	August 1, 1891	1892	[31]
28		John S. Seymour	March 31, 1893	1897	[32]
29		Benjamin Butterworth	April 7, 1897	1898
30		Charles Holland Duell	February 3, 1898	1901	[33]
31		Frederick Innes Allen	April 11, 1901	1907	[34]
32		Edward Bruce Moore	1907	1913	[35]
33		Thomas Ewing III	1913	1917	[36]
34		James T. Newton	1917	1920	[37]
35		Robert Frederick Whitehead	1920	1921	[38]
36		Melvin H. Coulston	1921	1921	[39]
37		Thomas E. Robertson	1921	1933	[40]
38		Conway Peyton Coe	1933	September 14, 1945	[41]
39		Casper W. Ooms	September 15, 1945	1947	[42]
40		Lawrence C. Kingsland	1947	1949	[43]
41		John A. Marzall	1949	1953	[44]
42		Robert C. Watson	1953	1961	[45]
43		David Ladd	1961	1963	[46]
44		Edward J. Brenner	1964	1969	[47]
45		William E. Schuyler Jr.	1969	1971	[48]
46		Robert Gottschalk	1972	1973	[49]
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks (PL 93-596 of January 2, 1975) [3] [4]
47		C. Marshall Dann	1974	1977	[50]
48		Donald W. Banner	1978	1979	[51]
49		Sidney A. Diamond	1979	1981	[52]
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks (Public Law 97-366 of October 25, 1982) [3] [4]
50		Gerald J. Mossinghoff	1981	1985	[53]
51		Donald J. Quigg	1985	1990	[54]
52		Harry F. Manbeck Jr.	1990	1992	[55]
53		Bruce Lehman	August 5, 1993	December 31, 1998	[56]
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (American Inventor’s Protection Act of November 29, 1999) [3] [4]
54		Q. Todd Dickinson [c]	January 1, 1999	January 20, 2001	[57]
acting		Nicholas P. Godici	January 20, 2001	November 30, 2001 [3]
55		James E. Rogan	December 10, 2001	January 9, 2004	[58]
56		Jon Dudas	January 12, 2004	November 14, 2008 [3]	[59]
acting		John J. Doll	November 15, 2008	August 12, 2009 [3]
57		David Kappos	August 13, 2009	January 31, 2013	[60]
acting		Teresa Stanek Rea	February 1, 2013	January 12, 2014
58		Michelle K. Lee	January 13, 2014	June 6, 2017	[61]
acting		Joseph Matal	June 7, 2017	February 8, 2018 [3]
59		Andrei Iancu	February 8, 2018 [62]	January 20, 2021 [63]	[64]
interim [d]		Drew Hirshfeld	January 20, 2021	April 13, 2022	[65]
60		Kathi Vidal	April 13, 2022	December 13, 2024	[66] [67] [68]
acting		Derrick Brent	December 16, 2024	January 20, 2025	[69]
acting		Coke Morgan Stewart	January 20, 2025	Present	[70]

Notes

1. Patent Act of 1793 transferred responsibility for patents to the Secretary of State.
2. Title of office changed from Superintendent to Commissioner on July 4, 1836.
3. Dickinson served in analogous role as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks beginning in 1998. That position was transformed into the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office effective January 17, 2001.
4. Hirshfeld performed the duties of a director but never titled "Acting director"

See also

• Rufus Randolph Rhodes, Commissioner of Confederate States Patents from 1861 to 1965

References

1. "Past USPTO Leaders". U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
2. Dobyns, Kenneth (1994). The Patent Office Pony: A History of the Early Patent Offices . Fredericksburg, VA: Seargeant Kirkland's Press. p.  23-24. ISBN   1887901132.
3. "Directors of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office". August 29, 2014.
4. "Past leaders of the USPTO". USPTO.
5. "William Thornton". USPTO.
6. "Thomas P. Jones". USPTO.
7. "John D. Craig". USPTO.
8. "James C. Pickett". USPTO.
9. "Henry L. Ellsworth". USPTO.
10. "Edmond Burke". USPTO.
11. "Thomas Ewbank". USPTO.
12. "Silas Henry Hodges". USPTO.
13. "Charles Mason". USPTO.
14. "Joseph Holt". USPTO.
15. "William Darius Bishop". USPTO.
16. "Philip Francis Thomas". USPTO.
17. "David P. Holloway". USPTO.
18. "Thomas C. Theaker". USPTO.
19. "Elisha Foote". USPTO.
20. "Samuel Sparks Fisher". USPTO.
21. "Mortimer D. Leggett". USPTO.
22. "John Marshall Thacher". USPTO.
23. "Robert Holland Duell". USPTO.
24. "Ellis Spear". USPTO.
25. "Halbert Eleazer Paine". USPTO.
26. "Edgar M. Marble". USPTO.
27. "Benjamin Butterworth". USPTO.
28. "Martin V. B. Montgomery". USPTO.
29. "Benton J. Hall". USPTO.
30. "Charles Elliott Mitchell". USPTO.
31. "William Edgar Simonds". USPTO.
32. "John S. Seymour". USPTO.
33. "Charles Holland Duell". USPTO.
34. "Frederick Innes Allen". USPTO.
35. "Edward Bruce Moore". USPTO.
36. "Thomas Ewing". USPTO.
37. "James T. Newton". USPTO.
38. "Robert Frederick Whitehead". USPTO.
39. "Melvin H. Coulston". USPTO.
40. "Thomas E. Robertson". USPTO.
41. "Conway P. Coe". USPTO.
42. "Casper W. Ooms". USPTO.
43. "Lawrence C. Kingsland". USPTO.
44. "John A. Marzall". USPTO.
45. "Robert C. Watson". USPTO.
46. "David L. Ladd". USPTO.
47. "Edward J. Brenner". USPTO.
48. "William E. Schuyler, Jr". USPTO.
49. "Robert Gottschalk". USPTO.
50. "C. Marshall Dann". USPTO.
51. "Donald W. Banner". USPTO.
52. "Sidney A. Diamond". USPTO.
53. "Gerald J. Mossinghoff". USPTO.
54. "Donald J. Quigg". USPTO.
55. "Harry F. Manbeck, Jr". USPTO.
56. "Bruce A. Lehman". USPTO.
57. "Q. Todd Dickinson". USPTO.
58. "James E. Rogan". USPTO.
59. "Jon W. Dudas". USPTO.
60. "David J. Kappos". USPTO.
61. "Michelle K. Lee". USPTO.
62. Fucito, Paul (February 8, 2018). "Andrei Iancu Begins Role as New Director of United States Patent and Trademark Office". U.S Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
63. "Director Andrei Iancu has stepped-down as PTO Director". Patently-O. January 19, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
64. "Andrei Iancu". USPTO.
65. "After a nearly 30-year career at the USPTO, Drew Hirshfeld to step down later this month". USPTO. June 7, 2022.
66. "Kathi Vidal". USPTO.
67. "USPTO Welcomes New Director Kathi Vidal". USPTO. April 13, 2022.
68. McDermott, Eileen (November 12, 2024). "USPTO Director Kathi Vidal Announces She Will Resign in Early December". IPWatchdog.
69. McBride, Stephen (December 18, 2024). "What Happened at the USPTO in 2024—and What's to Come". IPWatchdog.
70. Quinn, Gene (January 20, 2025). "Trump Names Coke Stewart Acting Director of the USPTO". IPWatchdog.