David J.
Kappos

From August 2009 to January 2013, Mr. Kappos served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that role, he advised the President, the Secretary of Commerce and the Administration on intellectual property policy matters. As Director of the USPTO, he led the Agency in dramatically re‑engineering 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 patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters worldwide. 

Mr. Kappos’s notable matters include representing:

• Disney in its $85 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox;
• Mylan in its $50 billion combination with Upjohn, a division of Pfizer, to form Viatris, and Viatris in its divestitures totaling $6.94 billion in value, including the $3.335 billion combination of its biosimilars portfolio with Biocon Biologics and the divestitures of its Over‑the‑Counter, Women’s Healthcare and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients businesses, and in its global research and development collaboration with Idorsia;
• AerCap in its $30 billion acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services from General Electric;
• Paramount’s special committee in the pending $28 billion merger with Skydance;
• Amazon in its $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM;
• Brookfield Renewable in its strategic partnership with Cameco to acquire Westinghouse for $8 billion;
• Illumina in its $8 billion acquisition and subsequent spin‑off of GRAIL and its co-development agreement with SomaLogic;
• Biogen in its $7.3 billion acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals, its $1.25 billion settlement and license agreement with Forward Pharma, the expansion of its existing agreement with Eisai to jointly develop and commercialize investigational Alzheimer’s disease treatments and its strategic collaboration agreement with Skyhawk;
• AmerisourceBergen in its $6.5 billion acquisition of Walgreens’ Alliance Healthcare businesses;
• Johnson & Johnson in the separation of Kenvue and its $6.5 billion acquisition of Momenta;
• Scientific Games in the $6.05 billion sale of SG Lottery to Brookfield;
• The Snyder family in the $6.05 billion sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders to a partnership led by Josh Harris;
• HCSC in its pending $3.3 billion acquisition of Cigna’s Medicare businesses and CareAllies;
• Roivant Sciences in its $3 billion Strategic Alliance with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma;
• Robinhood in its $1.9 billion IPO and its pending $300 million acquisition of TradePMR;
• Prosus in its $1.8 billion acquisition of Stack Overflow;
• DMGT in the £1.425 billion sale of RMS to Moody's;
• Hasbro in the $500 million sale of its eOne Film and TV Business to Lionsgate and in the $385 million sale of eOne Music to Blackstone;
• Technicolor in the $475 million sale of its Patent Licensing business to InterDigital;
• WiseTech Global in its $414 million acquisition of Blume Global from funds managed by Apollo and EQT and its $230 million acquisition of Envase Technologies from Firmament;
• ZimVie in the pending $375 million sale of its spine business to H.I.G. Capital;
• Aramex in its $265 million acquisition of MyUS;
• DRI Capital in the acquisition of a synthetic royalty interest in the worldwide sales of sebetralstat and related equity investment in KalVista Pharmaceuticals, the acquisition from Editas Medicine of payment streams based on the Cas9 gene editing technology for CASGEVY, its acquisition of a royalty interest in Orserdu from Eisai, its acquisition of a second royalty interest in Orserdu from Radius Health and the $210 million sale of its TZIELD royalty interest to Sanofi;
• Ashland in the sale of its nutraceuticals business to Turnspire Capital Partners;
• Blue Current in its investment from Koch Strategic Platforms;
• Just Eat Takeaway.com in the pending sale of Grubhub to Wonder;
• Montana Technologies in its joint venture with GE Vernova;
• Pitney Bowes in the sale of Borderfree to Global‑e;
• Qualcomm in the commercial terms of its settlement of global litigation with Apple, including a global six‑year patent license agreement and a multiyear chipset supply agreement;
• Quibi in its sale to Roku;
• RedHill Biopharma in its acquisition of Movantik from AstraZeneca and in its agreement with HealthCare Royalty to extinguish its debt obligations in exchange for Movantik;
• RELX Group in its acquisition of Interfolio; and
• Taro in its acquisition of Alchemee, formerly The Proactiv Company, from Galderma.

Mr. Kappos has received numerous accolades for his contributions to the field of intellectual property, including, among others, the 2014 Global Agenda Council Vision Award for the Intellectual Property Council’s pro bono initiative from the World Economic Forum, the 2014 Jefferson Medal from the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association (NJIPLA), the 2013 Board of Director’s Excellence Award from the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the 2013 Champion of Intellectual Property Award from the District of Columbia Bar Association and the 2013 North America Government Leadership Award from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). He was also honored as the inaugural recipient of IPWatchdog’s Paul Michel Award in 2021. Mr. Kappos was named one of the “Top 25 Icons of IP” by Law360, one of the “50 Most Influential People in Intellectual Property” and the “Outstanding Practitioner of the Year in IP Transactions” by Managing IP, one of the “Top 50 Intellectual Property Trailblazers & Pioneers” and one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by The National Law Journal, “Intellectual Property Professional of the Year” by the Intellectual Property Owners Association and inducted into the Intellectual Property Hall of Fame by Intellectual Asset Management Magazine in 2012. Mr. Kappos was also recognized as a leading lawyer by IAM Global Leaders, IAM Strategy 300, IAM Patent 1000, World IP Review, The Legal 500 US, Who’s Who Legal: Patents, LMG Life Sciences, Lawdragon, Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America. He is a frequent speaker and has authored many published articles on various intellectual property, innovation and leadership topics.

Mr. Kappos serves on the Boards of Directors of the Partnership for Public Service, the Center for Global Enterprise and the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation and on the Advisory Board for C‑IP². He is the Chair of the Advisory Council of the Naples Roundtable and is a Co‑Chair of the Best Practices in Intellectual Property Conference. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School, where he co‑teaches a class entitled “High Growth Transactions.”

Mr. Kappos was born in Palos Verdes, California. He received a B.S. summa cum laude in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1983 and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990.