David Kappos
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
David Kappos is the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In this role since August 2009, he advises the President, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Administration on intellectual property matters.
Mr. Kappos directs an office that provides incentives to encourage technological advancement and helps businesses protect their investments, promote their goods and services and safeguard against deception in the marketplace. The Office continues to deal with a large patent application backlog, long waiting periods for patent review, and information technology systems that are regarded as outdated.
Before joining the USPTO, Mr. Kappos served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property at IBM where he managed worldwide intellectual property operations. He has served on numerous boards and other leadership roles in the intellectual property field and has written and spoken widely on intellectual property topics both in the U.S. and globally.
Mr. Kappos received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California-Davis in 1983, his law degree from the University of California Berkeley in 1990, and has over 23 years of experience in the intellectual property field.
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.
