By Sheri Qualters
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to seed its leadership ranks with private-sector intellectual property lawyers.
Dana Colarulli, the director of government relations for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), will join the PTO's Office of Governmental Affairs on Dec. 14. Colarulli will be a legislative attorney-adviser at the government affairs unit and join a team of about a half-dozen professionals, said PTO spokesman Peter Pappas.
“Dana brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in intellectual property,” Pappas said. “He will provide much needed bench depth to our [Office of Governmental Affairs] team and we very much look forward to having him join us.”
Colarulli, who referred questions about his move to the PTO, is leaving the IPO on Dec. 9, according to the organization’s newsletter. At the IPO, Colarulli developed close ties with numerous private-sector lawyers through his role as staff liaison to 15 of the association’s standing committees and overall committee coordinator.
“In more than seven years with IPO, Dana has contributed enormously to strengthening the government relations and committee programs of IPO,” stated IPO’s executive director, Herb Wamsley, in the newsletter. “He will be a great asset to the USPTO.”
The PTO has hired several high-profile private-sector intellectual property lawyers just prior to and since David Kappos’ Aug. 7 Senate confirmation as PTO director. Before joining the PTO, Kappos was vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property law at International Business Machines Corp.
More recently, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke tapped Sharon Barner as deputy director of the PTO on Oct. 2. Barner was a partner in the Chicago office of Foley & Lardner, who chaired its intellectual property department.
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