Cotton, Amy

Amy Cotton is the acting Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Examination Policy.  In this role, Ms. Cotton oversees the Offices of Trademark Policy, Petitions, and ID-Class, as well as the Trademark Assistance Center, the Office of Trademark Quality Review and Training, the Trademark Law Library, Customer Experience, and Trademark Outreach. 

Ms. Cotton joined the USPTO in 1998 as a trademark examining attorney. She moved to the Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) in 2001, where she served as Senior Counsel for Trademarks since 2003, providing domestic and international policy advice to the USPTO and U.S. government agencies and technical assistance to global trademark offices. For nearly 20 years, Ms. Cotton led the U.S. delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on trademark matters, including negotiations to conclude the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement for the International Registration of Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. She was also the lead advisor to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during the United States’ dispute against the European Union’s geographical indications regulation before the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body. Prior to joining the USPTO, Amy served as external affairs counsel at the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

A member of the Virginia Bar, Ms. Cotton received her Juris Doctor from Indiana University, Bloomington and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia.