Andrei Iancu (born April 2, 1968) is a Romanian-American engineer and intellectual property attorney, who served as the

under secretary of commerce for intellectual property The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, or USC(IP), is a senior official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the intellectual property matters. In t ...

and director of the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

(USPTO) from 2017 to 2021. He was nominated for both positions in 2017 by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. He left office on January 20, 2021. He is currently a partner in

Sullivan & Cromwell Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1879 by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell, the firm advised on the creation of Edison General Electric and the formation o ...

's intellectual property & technology practice.

Early life and education

Iancu was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to Leon and Inda Iancu. He emigrated to America with his family in 1981 at age 12, settling in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

in 1989, a Master of Science in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

in 1990, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1996, all from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. At UCLA, he was initiated into

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

fraternity.

Career

Before entering law school, Iancu was an engineer at

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes ...

, from 1989 to 1993. Following law school, Iancu joined Irell & Manella as an associate in 1999 and was later promoted to partnership. He was elected managing partner for two terms from 2012 to 2018. His legal practice focused on

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

litigation. As an attorney, Iancu appeared before the

, the

United States International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...

, U.S. district courts, and the

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of cases in the U.S. federa ...

. In 2006, while Iancu was a partner at Irell & Manella, the firm represented

NBC Universal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is a subsidiary of Comcast and headquartered at 30 ...

and

Mark Burnett James Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer who has won thirteen Emmy Awards including ten Primetime, one Sports Emmy Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. His other accolades include five Producers Guild of America A ...

in a copyright suit which alleged that Mark Bethea and Velocity Entertainment Group had originally pitched '' The Apprentice'' to the production team, under the title of ''CEO''. The case was "jointly settled out of court with an undisclosed settlement paid to Bethea" that year. Iancu is also a lecturer of

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

at his alma mater, the UCLA School of Law.

USPTO

President Donald Trump during the signing of U

Iancu was nominated by President Trump on August 26, 2017. A hearing on his nomination was held on November 29, 2017. His nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 14, 2017 by a

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 5, 2018 by a 94–0 vote. He assumed the offices of Under Secretary and Director on February 8, 2018, when he was sworn in. In 2020, Iancu was in office during the sharpest declines and inclines of trademark applications in history.

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

led to fewer filings in the beginning of the year, which then increased in July 2020, exceeding the previous July. September 2020 was subsequently the highest month of trademark filings in the history of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Return to private practice

Iancu returned to Irell & Manella as a partner on April 1, 2021, with his practice focused on intellectual property litigation and counseling. Three months later in July 2021, Irell & Manella announced the launch of its

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

office, with Iancu at the helm. In April 2022, retired former

Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of cases in the U.S. federal ...

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Kathleen M. O'Malley joined his office in D.C., and a year later in July 2023,

announced that Iancu had moved to the firm along with Judge O'Malley.

Personal

Iancu is married to his wife Dr. Luiza Cecilia Iancu, a fellow Romanian-American immigrant. They have two children, Ariella Magen Iancu and Robert Gabriel Iancu. He is based in Los Angeles and maintains an office in D.C.

References

External links

* Presidential Nomination no
927
115th Congress, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. September 5, 2017. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Iancu, Andrei 1968 births Living people Lawyers from Bucharest Romanian emigrants to the United States UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni UCLA School of Law alumni UCLA School of Law faculty 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers California lawyers American patent attorneys First Trump administration personnel Under Secretaries of Commerce for Intellectual Property American engineers Sigma Pi members