Letter from the Chair

• Publication year: 2020
• Author: Heather A. Antoine

Letter from the Chair

Heather A. Antoine

Stubbs, Alderton & Markiles LLP

Hello Fellow IP Section Members,

I hope your year is off to an amazing start!

On February 5, 2020, the USPTO announced that David Gooder will serve as the new Commissioner for Trademarks. He fills the roll formerly occupied by Mary Boney Denison, who joined the USPTO as Deputy Commissioner in 2011. Mr. Gooder previously served as Chief Trademark Counsel for Brown-Forman Corporation. Regarding the appointment, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Andrei Iancu stated, "I am delighted to have David Gooder join the leadership team at the USPTO... The U.S. trademark system is the global standard for excellence. I know that David is going to do a great job maintaining and indeed raising that standard."

In December of 2019, Karyn Temple announced that she would be leaving her position as Register of Copyrights to serve as General Counsel of The Motion Picture Association. The position is currently held by Maria Strong who was named Acting Register in January of 2020. Ms. Strong previously served as Director of The Office of Policy and International Affairs and pror to that as Deputy Director. Regarding the appointment, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden stated, "Maria has had a stellar career here in the Copyright Office, and we are confident that she will ably guide the Office and continue to advance its many ongoing initiatives like modernization while we undertake the search for a permanent appointee."

As many of you know, the IP Section sends a delegation to Washington D.C. each year to meet officials and others in the federal government of importance to intellectual property law. We look forward to meeting with Mr. Gooder and Ms. Strong this April.

I would be remiss in failing to mention a topic that has occupied much of my life in recent months, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"). January 1, 2020 welcomed a new decade and a new era of privacy laws in the U.S. Practicing in this area, one often feels like a law student again; discussions of preemption abound, along with frustrated Slack...