The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)announced this week that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has appointed David Gooder to be the new Commissioner for Trademarks. Mr. Gooder has worked for more than 25 years as an intellectual property lawyer and is perhaps best known for being the founding Managing Director and Chief Trademark Counsel at Jack Daniel’s Properties, and most recently having served as Chief Trademark Counsel for Brown-Forman Corporation, which owns over 30 distilled spirits and wine brands including JACK DANIELS®. Among his most notable achievements during his tenure at Jack Daniel’s Properties and Brown-Forman Corporation were presiding over a multi-pronged enforcement program that had an over 98% success rate among matters in more than 50 countries.
Mr. Gooder was also an Officer and Director for the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the founding Director of the International Federation of Spirits Producers (IFSP), the distilled spirits industry’s anti-counterfeiting alliance. He served on the Board of IFSP for 14 years and was its Chairman for 10 of those years. In 2014, he was named one of World Trademark Review’s 50 Market Shapers, and in 2015 and 2016 was named an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.
Mr. Gooder will follow Mary Boney Denison as Commissioner for Trademarks. Ms. Denison has been a long-time mentor and friend of Winterfeldt IP Group founder Brian Winterfeldt, who worked with Ms. Denison when she was a solo practitioner. Mr. Gooder’s impressive track record and experience with intellectual property and brand protection will surely have a positive impact on the USPTO, and he will no doubt continue the positive developments overseen by Ms. Denison during her tenure from 2014-2019. We very much look forward to working with Mr. Gooder when he formally assumes the Commissioner for Trademarks position on March 2, 2020.
