California attorney wins US Senate Committee OK as patent office chief nominee

Katherine "Kathi" Vidal's nomination to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee despite some lobbying efforts against her as a Silicon Valley big technology lawyer.

Four Republican senators said they were satisfied the Winston & Strawn LLP partner from the Menlo Park office would continue Andrei Iancu's efforts to protect inventors. The committee approved her nomination 17-5 on Thursday, setting her up for easy Senate confirmation.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, said he was satisfied that Vidal, a veteran patent attorney, would represent the interests of patent owners and continue the policies of Iancu, an appointee of President Donald Trump who has returned to his old firm, Irell & Manella LLP.

"Ms. Vidal made it clear she understood the challenges facing small inventors and will work to address them," Grassley said.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, also expressed support for Vidal's nomination, saying he asked her pointed questions and was satisfied with her answers.

Vidal, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, would be the third consecutive Californian to lead the patent office. Michelle K. Lee, who previously was deputy general counsel at Google, ran the office from 2015 to 2017. Iancu served from 2017 until January 2021.

U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-LA, lashed out at large technology companies, saying they dislike patents.

Of Vidal, he said, "I know she's smart. She works at Winston & Strawn, where she and her partners represent -- duh -- big tech," Kennedy said before voting against her nomination.

A lobbyist group for small inventors had waged a campaign against Vidal, citing her connections to large technology companies.

The committee also confirmed the nomination of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley for a Northern District of California judgeship. She passed 16-6, a comfortable margin on an evenly divided committee with sharp ideological divisions.

If confirmed, Corley would take the seat of U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco, who has taken senior status.

Corley would be the fifth Biden nominee to be confirmed as a district judge.

Four of the president's nominees were confirmed last month. They are former U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Lopez of San Diego and San Diego County Superior Court Judge Jinsook Ohta to the Southern District; Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong to the Central District; and U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to the Eastern District.

Another California district court nominee got a hearing last week. Orange County Superior Court Judge Fred W. Slaughter faced no hostile questioning in his bid for a seat on the Central District court.

Slaughter, during a sparsely attended hearing on Wednesday, faced only a couple of questions from Kennedy, who asked if his court was systemically racist -- a common question of his to judicial nominees -- and if America was "mostly good."

The judge said the first question is an issue for policymakers that might come before him as a judge, but answered the second, saying he is "very proud to be in the greatest country."