Peter-Anthony Pappas, a Republican of New Jersey, was sworn in on August 3, 2026, as a Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission. He was nominated by President Donald J. Trump on June 1, 2026, to serve on the Commission and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 16, 2026, for a term expiring on June 16, 2035.

Prior to joining the Commission, Commissioner Pappas served as Director of Intellectual Property Policy for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary under Senator Thom Tillis, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property (IP). He advised on IP, antitrust, technology, and cybersecurity policy, as well as on Senate Judiciary Committee nominations, including Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Commissioner Pappas served as lead staff on major bipartisan IP legislation, including the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act, and the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors (Block BEARD) Act. He previously served as a Professional Staff Member Detailee for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary under Senator Tillis, then Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on IP.

Before his U.S. Senate service, Commissioner Pappas served as Special Advisor Detailee to Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for IP and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), advising on IP, artificial intelligence (AI), and agency operations. He helped develop the 2019 "Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance," helped establish the agency's first working group to consider the interplay between AI and IP, and helped design a framework for using AI to assist with prior art search during examination. His other USPTO roles include Patent Trial and Appeal Board Branch Chief Detailee, Supervisory Patent Examiner, Primary Patent Examiner, and Patent Examiner. While at the USPTO, Commissioner Pappas also served on the White House AI Research and Development Interagency Working Group and on the Department of Commerce Interagency Committee on Standards Policy AI Standards Coordination Working Group.

Commissioner Pappas created the USPTO's first randomized controlled trial, the foundation for the agency's Pro Se Pilot Program, which provided patent assistance to independent inventors and small businesses. Alongside the USPTO's Office of the Chief Economist, he co-authored two papers based on that trial: “Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO,” published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and “Patents and the Independent Inventor Lifecycle.”

Commissioner Pappas has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Supervisory Patent Examiners and Classifiers Organization (SPECO) Board of Directors, on which he sat for more than a decade – nearly five of them as Chairman. He has spoken at domestic and international events regarding U.S. IP policy, law, and related legislation, and has guest lectured at Harvard Law School, the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, and the George Washington University Law School.

Commissioner Pappas received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School. He is registered to practice before the USPTO and is the third generation of his family to pursue public service.

Last updated August 3, 2026