Hellen Bryan-Johnson is the Senior Trademark Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where she advises and confers with senior leaders on a variety of topics concerning trademark operations and policy issues.
When she is not serving in that role, Ms. Bryan-Johnson is a managing attorney for a trademark law office, where she leads a team of trademark examining attorneys and also serves as a substantive expert on a variety of topics related to the trademark examination process. Throughout her USPTO career, she has worked on numerous special initiatives, including coordinating trademark examination for the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program and serving as a presenter in various stakeholder outreach programs. She has also worked on special assignments with other agencies within the Department of Commerce on matters covering intellectual property law and Department-wide administrative initiatives. While serving in an advisory capacity to the Commercial Law Development Program, in the office of general counsel for the Department of Commerce, she provided advice on trademark operations and policy issues to the governments of Pakistan and Ukraine.
Ms. Bryan-Johnson began her career at the USPTO in 1999 as a trademark examining attorney and joined the trademark management team in 2005. Prior to joining the USPTO, she was an assistant state attorney in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ms. Bryan-Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Furman University, a Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University Law Center, and a master’s degree in International and Comparative Law (LLM) with honors from Georgetown University Law Center.