PRESS RELEASE January 9, 2017 #17-01
CONTACT: (Media Only) Paul Fucito at (571) 272-8400 or paul.fucito@uspto.gov
USPTO Announces New
Patent and Trademark Advisory Committee Members
WASHINGTON – The U.S.
Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
today announced new Patent and Trademark Advisory Committee Members for
the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) and
the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC).
The
Public Advisory Committees for the USPTO were created through the Patent and
Trademark Office Efficiency Act statute in the American
Inventors Protection Act of 1999 to advise the Secretary of Commerce and the Under
Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on
the management of patent and trademark operations. The Public Advisory
Committees review the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of
the patent and trademark operations, respectively, and advise the director on
these matters. Each committee has nine voting members who are appointed
by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Secretary of Commerce. Each member serves
a three-year term.
New PPAC
members Include:
Marylee
Jenkins, Chair, PPAC:
Ms. Jenkins is a partner at Arent Fox, LLP, and heads the New York Office’s
Intellectual Property Group. Her work focuses on intellectual property
matters involving information technology and the Internet. Additionally,
she counsels international companies on intellectual property disputes and strategies,
portfolio enforcement and management, e-commerce, and software development and
protection. Among her many professional activities, Ms. Jenkins is a past
Chairperson of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property
Law, is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and is a past president of the
New York Intellectual Property Law Association, was the Association’s
treasurer, and is a member of its Board of Directors. This will be Ms.
Jenkins’ second full term as a PPAC Member, and she will serve as PPAC Chair.
Jeffrey M.
Sears:
Mr. Sears is Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel for Columbia
University. His practice encompasses all aspects of patent law, including
prosecution, strategic counseling, licensing and post-licensing compliance,
litigation, and legislative, regulatory, and policy matters. Mr. Sears
manages the university’s global patent portfolio and works closely with faculty
inventors, technology transfer officers, and executive leadership on commercialization
activities. Mr. Sears is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia’s School
of Engineering and Applied Science, where he co-teaches Intellectual Property
for Entrepreneurs and Managers. He holds an S.B. in physics from MIT, an
M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from SUNY Stony Brook, and a J.D. from NYU.
Bernard
(Bernie) J. Knight, Jr.:
Mr. Knight is a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. His practice
focuses on complex patent litigation, including, patent, trademark and
copyright issues. He has advised on intellectual property cases before
the United States Supreme Court and provided oversight on patent and trademark
cases before numerous Federal courts. Mr. Knight served as General
Counsel at the USPTO from 2010 to 2013. Additionally, he served as Acting
General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Treasury leading the Treasury legal
team during the Administration’s financial markets crisis response efforts, and
as Deputy General Counsel at the USPTO from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Knight has
also been granted recognition by the USPTO to appear as counsel in inter partes
proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. As a result of his
accomplishments, Mr. Knight was recently named an “Intellectual Property
Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal.
New TPAC
Members Include:
William
(Bill) G. Barber, Vice Chair, TPAC: Mr. Barber is a Member of Pirkey Barber
PLLC. His practice focuses primarily on trademark litigation and
policing, handling cases in U.S. District Courts across the United States, and
cases before the USPTO. He is experienced in all aspects of litigation,
including jury and bench trials, as well as appeals. Mr. Barber handles
domain name disputes through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers, dispute resolution policy, trademark policing strategies and programs,
trademark clearance, and trademark prosecutions. He served as President
of the American Intellectual Property Law Association in 2011, and has
testified before Congress regarding reforms to the federal trademark dilution statute.
This is Mr. Barber’s second term, and he will continue his service as TPAC
Vice-Chair.
Brian J.
Winterfeldt:
Mr. Winterfeldt is a Partner and Co-Head of the Global Brand Management &
Internet Practice at Mayer Brown LLP. He advises clients on the creation
of global trademark and branding strategies, and has developed programs to
register and enforce clients’ intellectual property rights against infringement
of their trademarks and other branding elements in the United States and
internationally. Mr. Winterfeldt also advises clients on trade dress,
Internet governance and domain name issues, including disputes involving
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Uniform Rapid Suspension
System complaints. He also has extensive experience in evolving Internet
issues, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ new
generic top-level domain program (ICANN’s gTLD program). Mr. Winterfeldt
currently serves on the International Trademark Association’s Board of Directors,
and also is Special Advisor to INTA's Internet Committee.
Ilene B.
Tannen:
Ms. Tannen is a former Partner and current Of Counsel at Jones Day. Her
practice focuses on trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and internet
law. She has significant experience advising domestic and international
clients regarding global trademark clearance, brand development, and
registration strategies and she manages global trademark portfolios for
companies in a broad range of industries, including telecommunications, pharmaceuticals,
apparel, sports, and financial services. Ms. Tannen counsels clients
concerning the use of their brands in connection with goods, services, print,
on-line content, and social media. She also advises clients regarding
copyright protection, enforcement, and use.
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