Patent and Trademark Office Society
Annual Meeting

February 29, 2012
10:00 a.m.
USPTO Auditorium
Madison Building

This year’s speaker is

Maria Pallante

-Register of Copyrights and
Director, U.S. Copyright Office

One hour of other time may be charged to:
Patent employees: PNCSPA-0000-090241
Non-Patent employees: AVEORG-0065-A00151
with supervisor’s approval.

Maria Pallante, Register of Copyrights

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington appointed Maria Pallante as the 12th Register of Copyrights and director of the United States Copyright Office, effective June 1, 2011. Pallante served as the Acting Register for five months, following the retirement of Marybeth Peters on December 31, 2010.

"Maria's background and experience make her an ideal choice to lead the Copyright Office at this time," Billington said. "She is a thoughtful civil servant, a proven and effective manager, a leader in the wider copyright community and a recognized expert in domestic and international copyright law."

In making the appointment, Billington commended the high regard for Pallante among Copyright Office stakeholders from multinational businesses to individual citizens, and her understanding of the role that the Copyright Office plays within the mission of the Library of Congress. Pallante has had wide-ranging experience in copyright transactions, policy and litigation, in both the government and private sectors. In addition to Acting Register, she has held several key positions within the Copyright Office: Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs (2008-2010), Deputy General Counsel (2007-2008), and Policy Advisor (1996-1997). She spent much of her career in New York, working there from 1999-2007 as intellectual property counsel and director of the licensing group for the worldwide Guggenheim Museums, where she advised on programmatic and business initiatives related to publishing, product development and branding. She has led two national author organizations, working as Executive Director of the National Writers Union (1993-1995) and as Assistant Director of the Authors Guild (1991-1993), and was associate counsel at the Washington-based law firm and literary agency, Lichtman, Trister, Singer and Ross.

Pallante is a 1990 graduate of the George Washington University Law School. She earned her bachelor's degree in history from Misericordia University, where she was also awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters. She completed a clerkship in administrative law under the Hon. G. Marvin Bober, appellate division, U.S. Department of Labor. During her career, Pallante has been a frequent speaker on copyright law at events in the United States and abroad, and has testified before Congress several times, including on the Copyright Reform Act (1993); Orphan Works (2006) and Online Enforcement of Rogue Websites (2011). She was a member of the Librarian's 1993 Advisory Committee on Copyright Registration and Deposit and is currently serving on the Department of Education's Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Post-Secondary Education for Students with Disabilities.

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