birth_place imagesize office spouse image article_title name
palos verdes , california 200px under secretary of commerce for intellectual property leslie kappos david kappos official photo.jpg david kappos
 david j. kappos
david kappos

david `` dave '' j. kappos -lrb- born march 3 , 1961 , palos verdes , california -rrb- is an attorney who served as the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the united states patent and trademark office -lrb- uspto -rrb- from 2009 to 2013 .
prior to being confirmed to this post by the u.s. senate on august 7 , 2009 , kappos was the vice president and assistant general counsel , intellectual property law , for ibm corporation .
kappos announced his intent to step down from the position in late january 2013 .
his final day in office was friday , february 1 , 2013 .
he was succeeded by teresa stanek rea as acting under secretary and acting director .
kappos received his bachelor 's degree in electrical and computer engineering from the university of california-davis in 1983 , and his law degree from the university of california berkeley in 1990 .
he joined ibm in 1983 as a development engineer and has served in a variety of roles before taking his last position at ibm , including intellectual property law attorney in ibm 's storage division and litigation group , ip law counsel in ibm 's software group , assistant general counsel for ibm asia/pacific , ibm corporate counsel and assistant general counsel .
kappos served on the board of directors of the american intellectual property law association , the intellectual property owners association , and the international intellectual property society .
after leaving the pto , kappos joined the law firm of cravath , swaine & moore , where he advises clients on intellectual property matters relating to corporate mergers and acquisitions and litigation .
