Clinton Nominates Dickinson for Top Spot At PTO

(July 7, 1999) President Clinton nominated Todd Dickinson to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. He has been serving in the job in an acting capacity since January 1, 1999, and is currently Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.

Todd Dickinson

Todd Dickinson was previously confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Commissioner on June 18, 1998. He has been the acting Commissioner since the departure of Bruce Lehman. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is responsible for maintaining and developing the patent and trademark system of the United States, and for proposing policy and programmatic changes in the system to the President, and the Congress.

The PTO is also entrusted with advocating for protection of intellectual property rights of U.S. citizens abroad. Dickinson recently testified in support of HR 1907, a large and broad bill reforming many aspects of U.S. patent law. Dickinson's March 25, 1999 testimony to the House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee included an endorsement of the controversial "first to invent" defense and other aspects of the bill, which some have argued would weaken the protection for patent holders at home and abroad. The bill has since been amended and passed by the House Judiciary Committee.

Dickinson also testified on May 5, 1999 regarding the HR 1565 IH, the Trademark Amendments Act of 1999. He opposed a provision in the bill that would make the federal government subject to suit for its violations of trademark law. House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble (R-NC) explained this provision in his opening statement at a hearing on May 5, 1999. "Currently, the Federal Government can not be sued for trademark infringement by a private citizen or corporate entity. Yet, the Federal Government enters the marketplace as a competitor to private business and is in a position to sue others for infringement. This runs counter to our sense of "fairness." H.R. 1565 will level the playing field in this respect."

Dickinson is also at odds with the House Judiciary Committee over PTO reauthorization. HR 1225 RH, the reauthorization bill approved by the Committee on May 25, and reported on June 9, provides that "the Commissioner is not authorized to charge and collect fees to cover the accrued indirect personnel costs associated with post-retirement health and life insurance of officers and employees of the Patent and Trademark Office other than those charged and collected pursuant to title 35, United States Code, and the Trademark Act of 1946."

Rep. Coble

Rep. Coble explained the purpose of this provision in his opening statement at a hearing on March 25, 1999. It is "to prevent the diversion of revenue generated by special surcharges from the Patent and Trademark Office. The point of the bill is straightforward and necessary: to allow the agency to keep all of the revenue it raises in user fees to benefit American inventors and trademark holders."

However, Dickinson testified against this provision at this same hearing. He said in his opening statement that the "President's Budget proposal would authorize the PTO to charge and collect additional fees sufficient to cover the accruing indirect personnel costs associated with post-retirement health and life insurance of PTO employees. As H.R. 1225 would prohibit such additional fees, we would oppose the bill ..."

Dickinson has been praised by legislators for his work in making more of the resources of the PTO available through its web site. Earlier this year, 20 million pages of images were added to the searchable text of the 2 million patents that date back to 1976. This electronic library of late 20th century science and technology is available for free. All pending and registered trademarks are also available on line. The URL of this database is http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html.

Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Dickinson served as counsel with the Philadelphia-based law firm of Dechert Price & Rhoads. He has experience in all aspects of intellectual property law and management, including patent prosecution, trademark and copyright registration, strategic development and counseling, brand management, licensing, technology transfer, and litigation.

From 1990 to 1995, Dickinson was Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology at Sun Company, Inc., where he had legal and managerial responsibility for all intellectual property matters world-wide. From 1981 to 1990, he served as counsel to Chevron Corporation in San Francisco, focusing on domestic and international intellectual property matters. Prior to 1981, he was a patent and trademark practitioner with Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc., in Deerfield, Illinois, and the Pittsburgh, law firm of Blenko, Buell, Ziesenheim and Beck.

Dickinson graduated from Allegheny College in 1974 with a B.S. in chemistry, and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1977. He is a member of the bars of Pennsylvania, California, and Illinois, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.