Todd Elmer
Chief Communications Officer
Todd Elmer is the Chief Communications Officer of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic communication plans for the USPTO. He supervises media relations and stakeholder outreach to promote the agency’s goals and objectives. He oversees the USPTO’s partnership with the National Inventors Hall of Fame and management of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which is issued annually by the White House.
Prior to joining the USPTO, Mr. Elmer directed communications and public affairs initiatives for information retrieval firm H5, advancing thought leadership efforts within the intersecting realms of law, policy, and technology. Mr. Elmer’s communications work with H5 supported the company’s efforts to effectively replicate and automate expert human relevance assessments through a precise combination of patented artificial intelligence technologies and a proprietary professional services process.
Prior to joining H5, Mr. Elmer designed corporate communications and public affairs strategies for a wide variety of Fortune 500 corporations and national political organizations. He also practiced law within the public and private sectors, as an international trade attorney at the U.S. Department of Commerce and in the Washington, D.C. office of Kaye Scholer. From 1998 through 2000, Mr. Elmer served as a member of White House advance teams at numerous events for President Clinton and Vice President Gore. He also served in a variety of leadership capacities in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Democratic presidential campaigns.
Mr. Elmer holds a Juris Doctor, with distinction, from Emory University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Furman University.
About the USPTO
Since 1790, the basic role of the United States intellectual property system has remained the same: to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries (Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution). Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a federal agency in the Department of Commerce, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Through the issuance of patents, the USPTO encourages technological advancement by providing incentives to invent, invest in, and disclose new technology worldwide. Through the registration of trademarks, the agency assists businesses in protecting their investments, promoting goods and services, and safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace. By disseminating both patent and trademark information, the USPTO promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.
