Hon. Scott R. Boalick
Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, United States Patent and Trademark Office
Honorable Scott R. Boalick is the Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). In this role, he leads the PTAB as it conducts post-grant trials, including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, covered business method patent reviews and derivation proceedings, and as it hears appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings. Chief Judge Boalick was appointed to the Board in 2007. Prior to becoming the Chief Judge, he served as the acting Chief Judge, and before that as an Administrative Patent Judge, Lead Judge, Vice Chief Judge, and Deputy Chief Judge.
Before joining the USPTO, Mr. Boalick served as a patent attorney with the Department of the Navy at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory. In these roles, he advised clients concerning a wide range of intellectual property issues, including patent, trademark, copyright, technology transfer, administrative claims, and rights in technical data and computer software. He prepared and prosecuted patent applications and assisted the Invention Evaluation Board to select and prioritize inventions for patenting. Before that, he practiced with Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., where he counseled clients on all aspects of protecting intellectual property, including patent acquisition, portfolio management, and litigation. He litigated claims of patent infringement in the International Trade Commission, district court, and the Federal Circuit, and also prepared and prosecuted numerous patent applications in a variety of technology areas. Prior to his time at Fish & Richardson, Mr. Boalick served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Mr. Boalick began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving as a division officer on the USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) and as an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School. After his active duty service, he worked as a radar systems engineer at Technology Service Corporation.
Mr. Boalick earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal and received the Leon Robbin Patent Award. He earned both an M.S.E. in Systems Engineering and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Before joining the USPTO, Mr. Boalick served as a patent attorney with the Department of the Navy at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory. In these roles, he advised clients concerning a wide range of intellectual property issues, including patent, trademark, copyright, technology transfer, administrative claims, and rights in technical data and computer software. He prepared and prosecuted patent applications and assisted the Invention Evaluation Board to select and prioritize inventions for patenting. Before that, he practiced with Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., where he counseled clients on all aspects of protecting intellectual property, including patent acquisition, portfolio management, and litigation. He litigated claims of patent infringement in the International Trade Commission, district court, and the Federal Circuit, and also prepared and prosecuted numerous patent applications in a variety of technology areas. Prior to his time at Fish & Richardson, Mr. Boalick served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Mr. Boalick began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving as a division officer on the USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) and as an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School. After his active duty service, he worked as a radar systems engineer at Technology Service Corporation.
Mr. Boalick earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal and received the Leon Robbin Patent Award. He earned both an M.S.E. in Systems Engineering and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hon. Rhonda K. Schmidtlein
Commissioner for the United States International Trademark Commission
Commissioner for the United States International Trademark Commission
Commissioner Schmidtlein served as the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission from January 2017 to June 2018. Immediately prior to being appointed by President Obama in 2014, Commissioner Schmidtlein was a consultant to the World Bank on audit and accounting oversight projects. Previously, she founded the Office of International Affairs at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB is a regulatory agency created to protect the interests of investors in U.S. capital markets. Commissioner Schmidtlein also served several years as an attorney with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In that role, she represented the U.S. as lead counsel in WTO disputes and provided legal advice in connection with numerous international trade agreements. Earlier in her career, Commissioner Schmidtlein was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. She began her career as a judicial law clerk in federal court. Commissioner Schmidtlein holds a BS in Accountancy and a J.D.