Thomas, Shane

Shane Thomas is a Special Program Examiner with the International Patent Legal Administration at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Shane develops and provides training to USPTO patent examiners for both international and national stage applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, gives seminars on the PCT to both foreign examiners and various external IP organizations, and participates in a number of PCT-related special projects for the USPTO - including serving as the technical lead for the USPTO’s PCT Chapter I search and examination outsourcing contracts. 

Shane began his tenure at the USPTO in 2003 as a patent examiner in the computer architecture technology, specializing in memory systems.  In 2009, he became a Primary Examiner before joining IPLA in 2011.  He has been awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal and Exceptional Career Achievement Award for superior federal service and has also been recognized by AIPLA for outstanding contributions as a primary examiner (2010).  Prior to joining the USPTO, Shane earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana.