WASHINGTON – The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today the appointment of Scott Boalick as Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Boalick has served as the acting Chief Judge for the PTAB since September 2018. Boalick begins his permanent role today.
Boalick was appointed to the Board in 2007. Prior to becoming the acting chief judge, he served as an administrative patent judge, lead judge, vice chief judge, and deputy chief judge. Boalick was previously a patent attorney with the Department of the Navy at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory. Before that, he practiced with Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., where he counseled clients on all aspects of protecting intellectual property, including patent acquisition, portfolio management, and litigation. Boalick also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Boalick began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving as a division officer on the USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) and as an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School. After his active duty service, he worked as a radar systems engineer at Technology Service Corporation.
Boalick earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal and received the Leon Robbin Patent Award. He earned both an M.S.E. in Systems Engineering and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Also today, the USPTO announced that Jacqueline Bonilla has been appointed as the Deputy Chief Judge of the PTAB, having served as the acting deputy chief judge of the PTAB since September 2018. Bonilla will also begin her position today.
sourced: USPTO
