Advisory Board Member
David J. Kappos
Partner, Corporate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York;
Former Director, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
David Kappos is Co-Chair of Cravath’s Intellectual Property Practice. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of IP, including IP management and strategy, the development of global IP norms, laws and practices as well as commercialization and enforcement of innovation-based assets.
From 2009 to 2013, Mr. Kappos served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that role, he advised the President, the Secretary of Commerce and the Administration on IP policy matters. As Director of the USPTO, he led the Agency in dramatically reengineering its entire management and operational systems as well as its engagement with the global innovation community. He was instrumental in achieving the greatest legislative reform of the U.S. patent system in generations through passage and implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, signed into law by President Obama in September 2011. Prior to leading the USPTO, Mr. Kappos held several executive posts in the legal department of IBM, including litigation counsel, Asia Pacific IP counsel and, from 2003 to 2009, Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Lawyer responsible for all intellectual property matters worldwide.