Deborah Cohn, patent and trademark official spent 31 years
in the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). She retired in 2014 as
the Commissioner after starting the basement of the office reading over
trademark proposals and making recommendations to the Trademark Trial and
Appeal Board. Cohn worked hard for five years as a Trademark Examining Attorney
in the USPTO. In 1988, she received her first promotion in a series of
promotions that would eventually land her in the Commissioner’s seat at the
USPTO.
As Managing Attorney, Cohn worked for ten years as the supervisor of 25
examining attorneys. She mentored and trained them; she provided assistance to
them when they needed it. She became so popular among the Examining Attorneys
her superiors hesitated in giving her the promotions she felt she deserved
because she was so valuable where she was.
Deborah Cohn, patent and trademark official finally moved up
from Managing Attorney to Group Director of Trademark Law Offices in 1998. As
the Group Director, Cohn oversaw the operation of trademark law offices. It was
her responsibility to ensure that all of the trademark law offices performed
their legal examinations thoroughly and efficiently, they were productive, they
handled customer service well, and they managed their personnel well.
Cohn had
to make many difficult executive decisions during her tenure as Group Director,
especially when it came to personnel management. It was important to Deborah
Cohn, patent and trademark official and her superiors that all of the trademark
law offices under her management worked well with each other and in the context
of the USPTO as a whole.
