Remarks as written
John A. Squires, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO
IP Attaché Consultations
December 8, 2025
Welcome to homebase—Alexandria, Virginia—our distinguished IP attachés from around the globe. As you know, this gathering is an important yearly event, and it’s my first to welcome you as Under Secretary.
I was sworn just 11 weeks ago, with the better of the first six of those weeks being greeted with a historic 43-day government shutdown.
But we don’t shut down, as you know. No way, not us.
Not only was the USPTO open for business as our stakeholders worldwide counted on us, but we went into overdrive—announcing pilots, precedent, and tools to bring America’s Innovation Agency into the AI era. Because that’s who we are. And you are where we are in incredibly vital roles that you play with grace and aplomb on the world stage.
And I’m here to tell you proudly, your reputation precedes you! It’s amazing, well-earned, and palpable. Every member meeting I had in connection with my confirmation process asked about you—our amazing attachés. To the person. I even received a QFR about you. There was even an IP attaché fan club with cards carried by the Senate Judiciary Committee members no matter what great state or party they hailed from, and that certainly was not on my bingo card in my hearing and confirmation process.
But I’m so glad it was. It made it easy for me to have something in common to speak to—and be proud of.
So your roles, far and wide, are respected and admired for who you are and what you do.
First and foremost, you help set the tone for what we should be doing with our allies to strengthen IP rights, and with our companies to ensure they remain competitive internationally.
You are our ears, our eyes, and our boots on the ground throughout the world. With only 4.2 percent of the world’s population located in the United States, our companies must be successful in international markets to be successful here.
The IP that is being created in the United States in all of its forms—technology, brands, artistic creations, movies, and music—this is the driving force of the global economy.
Intellectual property holds the key to ushering in a new era of unsurpassed economic prosperity for our country. And it is of course essential that we protect these assets. Which is exactly what you are doing in the field—helping our companies to protect their IP and to grow their enterprises. For that, we thank you and I thank you.
As I speak on our mission, let me share why the USPTO is being seen now through a particular lens. For my part, I spent decades both in the world of global finance, where trust determines the strength of markets, and heavily in the startup world, where intellectual property is often the only asset a young company has.
What I learned from those experiences, and from what I’ve seen first-hand, is a steady and inexorable maturation of our system. There is indeed American primacy in innovation because it is enshrined in our Constitution and it stands on clarity, trust, and institutional integrity.
That is why we increasingly see the emergence of the USPTO’s role and unique value as that of the Department of Commerce’s Central Bank of Innovation—an institution whose output, policies, and influence can and does shape the innovation economy just as monetary policy shapes the financial system.
Put another way—we—all of us in our roles—are the institution and impetus that converts creativity into capital and ideas into engines of national strength.
You—our attachés—live it and help make that very real on the global stage.
You do so, because you are our forward-deployed stewards of and international ambassadors for an unrelenting culture of the curious and courageous—what we carry in our DNA called American ingenuity. Full stop.
You help ensure that the assets we issue at home are empowered, respected, relied upon, and given practical effect abroad. In your roles, you complete the chain of value.
Indeed, as you are seeing, global conversations about IP are shifting. Some, but not enough, encourage broadening of this critical dialogue; others reshape incentives in ways that diminish it and, with it, sacrifice clarity, investment, and innovation in favor of agendas and aims—which have little to do with markets, favorable economics, or growth.
Thus, your role is a complex one, because you have to navigate these currents with sophistication—engaging respectfully while keeping international systems anchored in bedrock principles that support creativity, capital formation, and fair competition.
Your mission is simple to state and profound in impact: you strengthen the global conditions that allow American innovation to thrive wherever it travels.
Because of your work, our inventors and creators wherever they hail—whether in Fortune 100 labs, Madison Avenue, or early-stage startups—can trust that their ideas will be respected around the world. And because of you, the United States remains the most trusted issuer of innovation assets in the global economy.
At the Central Bank of Innovation, we issue the soft dollar assets—patents and trademarks—the IP rights—that power the modern economy, signal investibility, and give innovators the confidence to take the risks that lead to discovery and growth. But the value of those assets of course does not stop at our borders. It depends mightily on how they are understood, respected, and accepted across the global innovation ecosystem.
Let me then say a few words about what a doctrine of the Central Bank of Innovation encompasses and entails.
The USPTO as an Economic Stabilizer
Every innovation economy requires a trusted issuer of value. The assets we issue—patents, trademarks, and other IP rights—function as soft-dollar instruments that underpin investment, risk allocation, competitive entry, and market expansion. When our standards are clear, our examination rigorous, and our rights predictable, we reduce systemic uncertainty across the innovation marketplace. That is stabilization in its purest form.
The USPTO as a Growth Engine
Strong IP systems catalyze capital formation. They allow start-ups to attract financing, enable universities to commercialize research, and give established firms the confidence to invest in long-term innovation. In economic terms, we lower the transaction costs associated with technological development and provide the legal infrastructure that converts ideas into productive assets. When we perform this function well, we are as vital to economic growth as any financial regulator.
The USPTO as a National-Security Actor
Technological leadership determines geopolitical standing. In fields such as AI, quantum, biotechnology, advanced materials, and semiconductors, the protection and strategic management of intellectual property are essential national-security functions. Our examination quality, our post-grant integrity, and our global engagement directly affect the resilience of U.S. innovation against foreign appropriation, coercive licensing, and systemic erosion abroad.
These are soft power protections just as important to national security and American interests, and go hand in hand with hard power.
A foundational principle of this doctrine, therefore, rests on the notion that as an economic actor, the USPTO stabilizes, fuels, and defends the innovation economy. America’s Innovation Agency is a key macroeconomic institution and force for a new era.
Which turns us to your role in the execution of this doctrine.
That’s why again, as our attachés, you are our forward-deployed practitioners of this new era doctrine. You ensure that the value of the assets we issue domestically is realized globally. You counter uncertainty in environments where legal systems may be fragile, enforcement uneven, or industrial policy ambitions high. You reinforce international confidence in American innovation assets.
You also engage in global dialogues that shape the normative trajectory of the international IP system. Some of these movements are constructive. Others—whether diffuse or coordinated—risk weakening the incentive structures upon which breakthroughs rely. Through these, we need to ensure that innovation policy remains grounded in economic evidence, institutional integrity, and global competitiveness.
Finally, why does this doctrine matter now? I say it matters now, more than ever. It matters now because emerging technologies are reshaping markets, alliances, and the international balance of power. Global supply chains are more interconnected—and more vulnerable—than ever before.
Indeed, we saw that—and suffered from that—to an extent we never fully appreciated during the pandemic.
No doubt, the intangible economy has surpassed the tangible economy in value. And geopolitical competition increasingly turns on who controls the most advanced ideas, the most resilient systems of innovation, and the most trusted frameworks for protecting them.
That is why your work matters. That is why this doctrine matters. And why you are IN and OF the American projection of power through innovation—and without which its value cannot be otherwise realized around the world.
Thank you for your judgment, your insight, and your unwavering commitment to the mission of America’s Innovation Agency. As I said earlier, our IP attachés are a tremendous asset to our nation. For all that you do day in and day out for the USPTO, for our stakeholders, and for every American, we thank all of you.
# # #