Andrei Iancu

Practice Areas

Andrei Iancu is a partner in S&C’s Intellectual Property & Technology practice and one of the leading voices in intellectual property law and innovation policy. He is a former Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property in the U.S. Department of Commerce and former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. Andrei has decades of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in IP matters across the technical and scientific spectra, including medical devices, genetic testing, therapeutics, the Internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game systems and computer peripherals. He represents clients in litigation and trials before the district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the USPTO, the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court, and also counsels clients on obtaining, licensing, enforcing and defending against IP rights globally.

During his tenure at the USPTO, Andrei served as the administration’s principal advisor on domestic and international IP issues and created the National Council for Expanding American Innovation, a group of industry, academia and government leaders tasked with helping the USPTO develop a comprehensive national strategy to broaden participation in the innovation ecosystem demographically, geographically and economically.

Throughout his career, Andrei has been widely recognized for his achievements and contributions to IP law and policy. He has been inducted into the IAM Hall of Fame by Intellectual Asset Management and named one of the “50 Most Influential People in IP” by Managing IP, and has received the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s “Excellence Award,” the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation “IP Champion Award” for “his extraordinary leadership in advocating for the value of intellectual property to stimulate the progress of innovation,” and the IEEE-USA “Award for Distinguished Public Service” for “restoring balance and confidence in the U.S. patent system.” He has earned accolades from leading publications, including Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Daily Journal, California Lawyer, Los Angeles Business Journal, Legal 500 and many others.

Andrei is a prolific writer and sought-after speaker, and has received a “Distinguished Legal Writing Award” at Law360’s Burton Awards and a Cicero Speechwriting Award in two separate categories, Public Policy and Technology, for his speech “The Future Keeps Coming.”