Kathi Vidal

Kathi was named to the Forbes 50 over 50: Innovation list alongside Andrea Goldsmith (who she inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame earlier in 2024), Esther Dyson, and many other incredible leaders who “are leading the charge in advancing [automation and #AI] for good.” In celebrating the honor, Kathi acknowledged that it was actually a “team win for the amazing work of team USPTO in expanding the innovation ecosystem at speed and scale. Go team!”

Kathi has received numerous accolades for her work and impressive accomplishments, including being named one of Managing IP’s 50 most influential people in IP (globally) from 2022–2024, and being inducted into the Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPs) Hall of Fame together with luminaries such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, and Senator Mazie Hirono. She has also been listed as one of the top 50 Women in AI and has been featured in publications like Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, and many IP trade publications for her marked experience in AI and innovation policy. During her tenure as the USPTO Director, the USPTO was named among the Top 50 Inspiring Workplaces in North America, the second-most inspiring workplace among government and nonprofit organizations in North America, and among the world’s Top 100 Inspiring Workplaces by the Inspiring Workplaces Group.

The following organizations have recognized Kathi for her work in private practice:

• The Best Lawyers in America^®– Patent Litigation
• WIPR Leaders Guide – an outstanding IP practitioner
• IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals (referred to as “one of Winston’s top guns”)
• The Recorder – a Women Leader in Law and a California Trailblazer
• Chambers USA – ranked attorney for Intellectual Property: Patent
• Northern California Super Lawyer
• The Daily Journal – a California Top 100 Lawyer, one of 50 Leading IP Litigators in California, and one of California’s Top Women Litigators
• Benchmark Litigation US – one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation and a California Litigation Star
• San Francisco (magazine) – one of the Top Women Attorneys of Northern California
• Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal – one of the “Forty under Forty People to Watch” in Silicon Valley and a Woman of Influence in Silicon Valley
• Managing IP – Top 250 Women in IP
• Lawdragon – “500 Leading Lawyers in America”
• The Legal 500 US for Patents: Litigation – a “Key Lawyer”
• Legal Momentum – one of five Women of Achievement Honorees
• San Francisco Business Times – one of the “Most Influential Women in the Bay Area” and thereafter referred to as “Forever Influential”
• Who’s Who Legal list for Patents

Kathi is an active leader in the IP and technology law arena, focused on activities that have impact, including supporting the judiciary and efforts to expand innovation, entrepreneurship, and opportunity for those underrepresented in this area.

She was one of only a few law firm instructors teaching patent law to new Article III judges through the Federal Judicial Center and worked on a team drafting the rules and jury instructions for the Northern District of California. She founded the Next Gen Lawyers effort and has consulted with district court judges and the PTAB on their judicial next gen orders.

Kathi is an active champion of Journey to Lead alongside leading women—such as Mary Barry and Ginni Rometti—and founded the ChIPs USPTO chapter. Kathi is also an active participant in The Sedona Conference and The Leahy Institute and is a member of the American Association of Patent Judges and the Patent and Trademark Office Society.

Kathi has sat on numerous boards, including serving as a board member of SuperPhone (a tech startup), the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF). She served as an advisory board member of ChIPs (women in policy, law, and technology), Cinequest (the Silicon Valley Film Festival), and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. In addition, she served on the Litigation Committee of the IPO.

She has mentored women from underdeveloped countries through the U.S. State Department’s mentorship program and has been recognized for such efforts in Fortune (which also published several of Kathi’s photographs related and unrelated to her mentorship).

Over a decade ago, Kathi was inducted as a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America (an honorary society for the top 0.5% of litigators). She also served as a Fellow to the Federal Circuit Bar Association and as an Adjunct Professor of Patent Law at Santa Clara University School of Law.

While serving as the USPTO Director alongside Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, Kathi served as the Vice Chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2), which created the first-ever National Strategy for Inclusive Innovation. She is also co-chair of the Economic Development Administration’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), playing a key role in creating the first National Entrepreneurship Strategy. She and Secretary Raimondo launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship (WE) initiative, and she founded Entrepreneurship Essentials for the Military Community. She also expanded patent and trademark resources in libraries nationwide and free legal services for patent applicants, increasing the participation by women and other underrepresented populations to unprecedented levels. She scaled up the USPTO’s childhood and K-12 education programming, introduced groundbreaking tools to identify IP and assist teachers, and made permanent the USPTO’s outreach efforts through the creation of the Office of Public Engagement. Recognizing the lack of diversity in the IP profession, Director Vidal expanded the patent bar, created a design patent bar, and expanded the criteria to practice before the PTAB.  

Kathi is a member of Winston’s Executive Committee.