Duties
As the Senior Trademark Legal Counsel, you will have the exciting opportunity to serve as one of the recognized experts for the USPTO on trademark policy and litigation issues for the Solicitor's Office. The Senior Trademark Legal Counsel position is located in the Office of the Solicitor within the Office of General Counsel. In this significant role, you must exercise initiative and proficiency in trademark law, administrative law, litigation, agency regulations, and trademark policy.
The Senior Trademark Legal Counsel renders legal and policy advice on trademark matters through the Solicitor, Deputy Solicitor, and the General Counsel to the Under Secretary and Director of the USPTO and other members of the USPTO's senior staff; and should have a high level of experience and expertise in (1) Trademark law, litigation, and policy issues, (2) Rulemaking and administrative law, and (3) District court and appellate litigation. The position serves as the Solicitor's Office's liaison with other USPTO business units regarding trademark policy and legal issues while coordinating the USPTO's efforts in federal court trademark-related litigation with a focus on overseeing the Solicitor's Office work in district court actions brought under 35 U.S.C. § 1071(b) and the Administrative Procedure Act and identifying opportunities for the USPTO to file amicus and intervenor briefs in significant trademark and copyright cases.
As the Senior Trademark Legal Counsel, you will also:
- Review and propose revisions to the trademark statutes, rules, and manuals of procedure;
- Provide legal opinions on availability of marks proposed to be used by the agency;
- Coordinate the Solicitor's Office's efforts in district court litigation involving trademark and administrative law issues;
- Attend meetings on behalf of the Solicitor or Deputy Solicitor;
- Review briefs to be filed by the Solicitor's Office in trademark cases;
- Have supervisory responsibility for Associate Solicitors, and handle other matters as assigned.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Applicants will only be accepted from United States Citizens and Nationals.
- Required to pass a background investigation and fingerprint check.
- Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (www.sss.gov) Suitable for Federal employment.
- If selected, you may be required to complete a two-year trial period.
Qualifications
To meet the minimum requirements for this position, candidates must demonstrate their experience in their narrative responses to the Professional Technical Qualifications (PTQs) questions and all narrative responses must be fully supported within their resume. *Applicants must use the USA Jobs text boxes to submit their narrative responses to the PTQs. Do not write "see resume" or "see attached documents". Each PTQ has a 10,000-character limit (to include spaces) that must be adhered to. Uploaded documents addressing the PTQs will not be accepted.
Experience must have been at a sufficiently high level of difficulty to clearly show that the candidate possesses the required professional/technical qualifications set forth below.
Professional Technical Qualifications: Applicants must clearly demonstrate in their application materials that they possess technical attributes in the Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs).
The Professional Technical Qualifications (PTQs) for this position are:
- Knowledge of trademark law, rules and procedures in appeals and inter partes cases at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, rules and procedures affecting trademark examination, and related policy issues.
- Ability to oversee and litigate federal court cases on behalf of the USPTO that involve trademark and/or copyright issues, including formulating legal strategies and preparing briefs.
- Ability to communicate, negotiate, and work effectively with representatives from other offices or agencies on trademark-related issues and to advocate for USPTO positions at all levels of engagement.
- Ability to lead a team of attorneys and other professionals who provide advice to agency clients about trademark and copyright law and oversee related litigation.
Education
The candidate must have a law degree from an accredited law school program and must be a member of a bar in good standing, in the United States or a Territory of the United States.
Additional information
This is a Non-Bargaining Unit position.
This is a Public Trust position and has a risk level designation of "high".
The USPTO participates in E-Verify. For more information on E-Verify, please visit the Department of Homeland Security Website.
Probationary Period: If selected, you may be required to serve a two-year probationary period.
All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.
Relocation Expenses are not authorized and will not be paid.
More than one selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade, and unit occur within 90 days from the date the certificate was issued.
All application materials become the property of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
USPTO Job Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should request accommodation(s) from the USPTO at http://www.uspto.gov/accommodation.
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, requires senior officials in the executive, legislative and judicial branches to file public reports of their finances as well as other interests outside the Government. If selected for this position you will be required to file a Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278). The OGE 278 is available to the public. The primary purpose of disclosure is to assist agencies in identifying potential conflicts of interest between a filer's official duties and the filer's private financial interests and affiliations.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. If you believe that you have been discriminated against and would like to file an EEO complaint, you must do so within 45 days of the date of the alleged discriminatory act. Claims of employment discrimination must be submitted to the attention of the USPTO's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity via email (oeeod@uspto.gov) or phone (571-272-8292).
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
In order to be considered for this position, you must (1) demonstrate in your application package that you meet the experience as defined under the "Qualifications" section, (2) answer the Professional Technical Qualifications (PTQs), (3) submit a detailed resume that supports your answers to the PTQs and specialized experience.
Your responses to the PTQs and resume will be evaluated by a Human Resources Specialist and/or a subject matter expert. Falsifying your background, education, and/or experience is cause for not hiring you or for changing your scored responses to questions you've answered, which may affect your overall final score.
Please note that a complete application is required for consideration. (Please review the "Required Documents" section of this job announcement to see what must be included in a complete application).
This job is open to
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
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