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Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property Strategy, Microsoft

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Thomas C. Rubin is the Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property Strategy at Microsoft. He leads the company's Copyright, Trademark and Trade Secret Group, where he strategically manages several of the world's most successful copyrighted works, most highly-valued brands and most valuable trade secrets. At Microsoft since 1998, Tom is responsible for creating and promoting Microsoft’s policy positions on a broad range of intellectual property issues. He also spearheads complex product development, licensing, marketing and enforcement strategies across Microsoft’s business divisions for products and services including Windows, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft Office and Xbox.

Prior to Microsoft, Tom was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was a pioneering prosecutor of computer, electronic and telecommunications crimes. During nearly five years at the United States Attorney’s Office, Tom was awarded the U.S. Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney, the top honor from the U.S. Customs Service and numerous commendations from the NYPD, FBI, DEA, INS and Secret Service.

Prior to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Tom spent several years in private practice at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, where he represented companies such as Sony Corporation, Time Inc. and Infinity Broadcasting Company in intellectual property and media law matters. He also clerked for Judge Leonard B. Sand in the Southern District of New York and Chief Judge James L. Oakes in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to law school, Tom worked in the newsroom of The New York Times.

Tom currently serves on the Board of Advisors of CCH’s Guide to Computer Law and the Board of Visitors at Stanford Law School. Tom is a frequent speaker at Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Seoul National University, Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere. He has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and addressed the Intellectual Property Owners Association, Copyright Society of the USA, Fordham Conference on International IP Law & Policy and many other organizations.

Tom graduated with distinction from Yale University and Stanford Law School.

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