A Patent Board Litigator Is Now Poised to Be Its Final Arbiter

Kathi Vidal, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, knows her way around the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Waiting for her would be a new power to shape the tribunal’s patent reviews.

Vidal, a longtime patent litigator and head of Winston & Strawn LLP’s Silicon Valley office, has represented companies in dozens of patent reviews at the PTAB, making arguments for both challengers and patent owners.

That experience could help her chart a course for the administrative tribunal if she is confirmed by the Senate.

Vidal would be the first Senate-confirmed director since the ...