Thomas Shaw is the Acting Chief Administrative Trademark Judge of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). In this role, he leads the TTAB as it hears and decides appeals by trademark applicants including final refusals of registration; oppositions brought by outside parties to challenge approved trademark applications; petitions filed by outside parties to cancel trademark registrations; and determines geographic division of territories for marks involved in concurrent use proceedings.
Judge Shaw was appointed to the position of Acting Chief Judge in December 2024 after being appointed as Deputy Chief Judge in August of 2024.
Before taking on responsibility as Deputy Chief Judge and Acting Chief Judge, he spent 13 years serving as one of the TTAB’s Administrative Trademark Judges, sitting on panels to hear appeal and trial cases, and authoring final decisions.
Judge Shaw began his career at the USPTO as a Trademark Examining Attorney, later serving as a Senior Attorney and a Managing Attorney. He also served as an Associate Solicitor in the Office of the Solicitor before joining the TTAB as an Administrative Trademark Judge.
A graduate of the George Washington University, Judge Shaw earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law.