The Senate Feb. 5 unanimously confirmed (94-0) Andrei Iancu to become U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director. In this role, Iancu will oversee a budget of over $3 billion and staff that provides patent protections to over 300,000 inventions every year.
Prior to his confirmation, Iancu was a Managing Partner at Irell & Manella LLP where he practiced intellectual property litigation. Iancu holds a law degree from the UCLA School of Law, and both a Master of Science in mechanical engineering and a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from UCLA.