MEDIA ADVISORY 98-9

Q. TODD DICKINSON CONFIRMED BY SENATE TO SERVE AS DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS

PRESS RELEASE

The U.S. Senate last night confirmed Q. Todd Dickinson as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner for Patents and Trademarks.

Dickinson, presently Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, said "I am pleased to have this opportunity to serve the President, Commerce Secretary Daley, and the nation by strengthening our intellectual property protection systems and our economy. We live in the information age, an age characterized by massive expenditures on research and development, continued growth in corporate emphasis on marketing and advertising to promote brand name identification, and rapid international exchange of digital information. For the American economy to continue to grow in this environment, America's intellectual property--and its creators, large and small--must be nurtured and safeguarded."

Dickinson has more than 20 years of experience in the area of intellectual property law and management representing individual inventors, educational institutions, small businesses and corporations in a wide range of disciplines. Before coming to Washington in February 1998, Mr. Dickinson served as counsel at the Philadelphia-based law firm of Dechert, Price and Rhoads. From 1990 to 1995, he served as Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Technology, for Sun Company, Inc. Dickinson was also Counsel for the Chevron Corporation in San Francisco, California between 1981 and 1990, and prior to that was an attorney with Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois and with Blenko, Buell, Ziesenheim and Beck in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, specializing in intellectual property matters.

Dickinson received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Allegheny College and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Association, the International Trademark Association and the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.

Upon learning of Mr. Dickinson's confirmation, Bruce Lehman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks said "I am extremely pleased to have the support of an individual so well versed in the field of intellectual property as the PTO continues its very important work promoting and protecting the nation's largest export-intellectual property--in today's competitive global marketplace."