Rob McBride is a Senior Legal Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As Senior Legal Advisor, he provides 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.
Mr. McBride previously served more than ten years (from 2014 to 2025) as an Associate Solicitor in USPTO’s Office of the Solicitor. Mr. McBride was responsible for defending decisions by the PTAB and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the federal district courts, representing the Under Secretary in district court actions that are filed against the USPTO pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and providing legal advice on intellectual property law policy and regulation.
Prior to joining the USPTO as an Associate Solicitor, Mr. McBride worked 12 years in private practice in Washington, D.C., as a patent attorney at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP; Winston & Strawn LLP; and Mayer Brown LLP. Mr. McBride focused his practice on intellectual property law, including patent litigation, patent prosecution, and patent licensing.
Mr. McBride earned a Juris Doctor in 2003 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. Mr. McBride also earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, magna cum laude, in 1998, from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University.
Prior to attending law school, Mr. McBride worked from 1999 to 2000 as a patent examiner at the USPTO in Art Unit 1731. He also worked from 1998 to 1999 as a chemical engineer for Champion International at a fully integrated paper mill in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.