Interview: Russell Pangborn, Microsoft
17 May 2009
Eileen McDermott, Seattle
Russell Pangborn is associate general counsel for trademarks at Microsoft, one of Washington’s best known businesses. Pangborn spoke with Eileen McDermott about the company’s apprehension over new gTLDs, the effect of the credit crunch on filing strategy and his unfaltering love of trademarks
How long have you been with Microsoft? I’ve been with the company for six years. I came from Intel, where I was in the trademark group. When I started here, I was trademark counsel for WINDOWS and the mobility group. Two-and-a-half years ago I jumped over to the copyright and trade secrets practice, and then one and a half years ago I jumped back to the trademark group. I’ve been managing the trademark group since the summer of 2007.How large is your trademark group?We have 20 dedicated people for the trademark group. We’re five attorneys and 15 non-attorneys who handle trademark matters globally, all based in Redmond. There are other groups at Microsoft who handle matters that touch on trademarks, such as the anti-piracy and internet safety groups, which deal with online fraud, phishing and typosquatting, for instance. They play a collaborative part in policing spam and phishing by nefarious...
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