Mr. Albert Tramposch
Deputy Executive Director, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Arlington, VA
Albert Tramposch currently serves as Deputy Executive Director – International and Regulatory, for the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) in Arlington, VA. A patent attorney with a background in environmental sciences, Al is former Director of Industrial Property Law at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. At WIPO, he oversaw negotiation of international treaties and instruments on patents and trademarks, served as liaison to the WTO TRIPS Council, the European Patent Office and national governments, advised developing countries on implementation of treaties and modernization of their national laws, and initiated WIPO involvement with Internet domain name dispute resolution. Al has advised the Presidency of the European Union on issues relating to patents and access to essential medicines, and was an NGO representative at the 15th Conference of the Parties, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In 2009, he served as Director of Global Innovation and Trade for the Global Innovation Forum, National Foreign Trade Council, in Washington, D.C.
In addition to his work at WIPO, Al has practiced intellectual property law in the United States and internationally, taught at several U.S. law schools, and served as a member of the USPTO Trademark Policy Advisory Committee. He is a registered U.S. patent attorney, a joint citizen of the United States and Slovenia, and holds an undergraduate degree in ecological sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from the University of Washington. He did postgraduate work in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Washington State University.