Austin Mayron is the Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Deputy Solicitor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In this role, he helps lead a team of highly skilled professionals and oversees all facets of the Office of the Solicitor’s work, including representing the agency in federal court on patent and trademark matters and defending the agency against high-stakes statutory, regulatory, and constitutional challenges.
Beyond his litigation responsibilities, Mr. Mayron helps develop USPTO rules and guidelines, shape intellectual property policy across the federal government, and provide internal counsel on the implementation of the agency’s rules, guidelines, and policies. He also co-chairs the USPTO’s Standard-Essential Patent (SEP) Working Group, a cross-functional team dedicated to ensuring that all patent holders are treated fairly and that their rights receive strong and predictable enforcement wherever standards incorporate patented technologies.
Mr. Mayron previously served as Senior Legal Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, where he provided expert legal advice to USPTO leadership on a wide range of patent-related legal and policy issues, including patent eligibility; the America Invents Act; proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); litigation before the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court; and PTAB and patent-related precedent, Director guidance, and rulemaking. He also served as Acting Director of the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he led the government’s collaboration with industry on voluntary testing, research initiatives, and the development of guidelines and standards for commercial AI systems.
Before joining the USPTO, Mr. Mayron was an Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, focusing on intellectual property law. He also served as a Judicial Law Clerk to Judge Elizabeth L. Branch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Judge Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Associate Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel, where he advised the President on a range of executive branch legal issues.
Mr. Mayron earned a Juris Doctor from the Washington University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.