Linda K McLeod

Linda K McLeod’s unique experience makes her one of the most sought-after lawyers to handle trademark cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. As a former TTAB administrative trademark judge and interlocutory attorney, Ms McLeod has extensive experience litigating cases through trial before the TTAB and related court appeals. Ms McLeod recently prevailed in a decade-long, contentious opposition trial before the TTAB on behalf of a charitable relief organisation. She also has a proven track record handling appeals before the Federal Circuit, having scored a recent victory in a precedential ruling in Couture v Playdom Inc. Ms McLeod was appointed by the secretary of commerce to serve on the USPTO’s Trademark Public Advisory Committee (2011-2014). She currently serves on a USPTO Subcommittee, INTA’s Trademark Office Practices Committee. Ms McLeod previously served as chair of the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trademark Relations with the USPTO Committee.

Ms McLeod has earned numerous accolades and recognitions for her expertise, including being:

• ranked among the top trademark lawyers for both contentious and non-contentious trademark matters in Washington DC by WTR 1000 (2011-2019);
• recognised as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property (2014-2019);
• named among Managing Intellectual Property’s Top 250 Women in Intellectual Property Worldwide (2014, 2016, 2018, 2019);
• awarded Best in Trademarks by Legal Media Group America’s Women in Business Law Awards (2012 and 2013);
• Recommended Trademark Lawyer by The Legal 500 (2014-2019); and
• named as a WIPR World Intellectual Property Leader (2016-2019).

Clients describe Ms McLeod as “the reigning queen of the TTAB” and “a leading TTAB practitioner” who “deftly maneuver[s] through the [TTAB] system”, and as “seriously smart and really knows her stuff; she makes all the right arguments, but at the same time knows how to take a well-reasoned stance to get a disagreement resolved”. Before co-founding Kelly IP, Ms McLeod was a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP in Washington DC.