David "Dave" J. Kappos (born March 3, 1961) is an attorney and former government official who served as

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, or USC(IP), is a senior official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the intellectual property matters. In t ...

and Director of the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

(USPTO) from 2009 to 2013. Kappos is currently a partner at New York law firm

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath) is an American white-shoe law firm with its headquarters in New York City, and an additional office in London. The firm is known for its complex and high profile litigation and mergers & acquisitions ...

. Prior to being confirmed to the post by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

on August 7, 2009,USPTO web site
''David Kappos Confirmed as Patent and Trademark Office Director''
, August 7, 2009. Consulted on August 10, 2009. Kappos was the vice president and assistant general counsel, intellectual property law, for IBM Corporation.''President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts''
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, June 18, 2009. Kappos announced his intent to step down from the position in late January 2013. His final day in office was February 1, 2013. He was succeeded by

Teresa Stanek Rea Teresa Stanek Rea is the former Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and former Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Rea obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy in 1976 from ...

as Acting Under Secretary and Acting Director.

Early life and education

Kappos was born March 3, 1961, in

Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the Sou ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He is the grandson of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Kappos received his Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering from the

University of California-Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

in 1983, and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1990.

Career

IBM career

He joined IBM in 1983 as a development engineer and has served in a variety of roles before taking his last position at IBM, including intellectual property law attorney in IBM's Storage Division and Litigation group, IP Law Counsel in IBM's Software Group, assistant general counsel for IBM Asia/Pacific, IBM Corporate Counsel and assistant general counsel. David Kappos being sworn as USPTO Director (2009-08-13)

David Kappos being sworn as USPTO Director (2009-08-13)

USPTO tenure

Kappos became Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director in August 2009. In this capacity, he was a chief negotiator in the passage and implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act; signed into law by President Barack Obama in September 2011. The legislation represents the most significant legislative change to the U.S. patent system since the

Patent Act of 1952 A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

. During his tenure, the USPTO's backlog dropped from over 770,000 to under 668,500 between 2009 and 2012. In November 2012, it was reported that Kappos intended to retire from the role in 2013, and he left office on February 1, 2013.

Post-USPTO career

After leaving the USPTO, Kappos joined the law firm of

, where he advises clients on

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

matters relating to corporate

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

and

fintech Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...

. He is also an adjunct professor of copyright litigation at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, and of legal advising for start up general counsel at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

Recognition

In 2016, he was named one of the “Top 25 Icons of IP” by

Law360 Law360 is a subscription-based, legal news service based in New York City. It is operated by Portfolio Media, Inc., a subsidiary of LexisNexisSabroski, Suzxanne (May 1, 2012) LexisNexis goes 360, ''Onliline'' and delivers breaking news and analys ...

. In 2014, he was listed as one of ''

The National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...

s inaugural “Top 50 Intellectual Property Trailblazers & Pioneers”. Kappos was inducted into the Intellectual Property Hall of Fame by ''

Intellectual Asset Management ''Intellectual Asset Management'' (''IAM'') is a bimonthlyIntellectual Asset Management web site''Frequently asked questions'' Retrieved 10 February 2010. magazine published in English and focused on "intellectual property from a business point ...

'' magazine in 2012. He serves on the boards of directors of the

Partnership for Public Service The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants and to transform the way government works. The Partnership's most visible program ...

, the Center for Global Enterprise and the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation. Kappos is also the chair of the Advisory Council of the Naples Roundtable and the chair of the U.S.-China IP Cooperation Dialogue.

References

External links

David J. Kappos
biography at

* David Kappos Senate confirmation proceedings. * Transcript, David Kappos Senate confirmation hearing. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kappos, David J. 1961 births Living people Under Secretaries of Commerce for Intellectual Property IBM employees University of California, Davis alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni American patent attorneys People from Palos Verdes, California Cravath, Swaine & Moore people American people of Greek descent