Thomas Sydnor II researches and writes on intellectual-property law, particularly on copyrights, at ACT and Innovators Network.

Prior to joining ACT and Innovators Network, Sydnor served as Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for the Study of Intellectual Property at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a market-oriented think tank. Before PFF, he served as copyright advisor in the Office of International Relations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). At USPTO, Sydnor worked on domestic and international copyright issues: He focused on China, advised USTR on the copyright provisions of the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and authored the groundbreaking USPTO report, Filesharing Programs and “Technological Features to Induce Users to Share.”

Sydnor also served as Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. During his time with the Committee, Sydnor helped to secure Senate passage of various pieces of legislation in the 108th Congress, including the Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (PIRATE) Act, the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act, and the Intellectual Property Protection and Courts Amendments Act. He also worked on the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004, which proposed to create an inducement exception to the Supreme Court’s Sony decision—the approach adopted by the unanimous Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster. He also helped to negotiate proposed legislation on diversion of patent fees from the USPTO.

Prior to his work with the U.S. Senate, Sydnor worked in private practice at two major law firms, specializing in litigating administrative-law and intellectual property cases. Sydnor is an Order of the Coif graduate of Duke Law School and a graduate of The Ohio State University.