Terri Chen Replaces Rose Hagan as Google’s Chief Trademark Counsel

By Eric Goldman

I previously mentioned that Rose Hagan, Google’s longtime chief trademark counsel, was retiring. (Her last day was Wednesday). Rose’s next ventures include art and jewelry. Terri Yun-Lin Chen, a current trademark counsel at Google, has taken over Rose’s spot. Terri has a bachelors and JD from UC Berkeley, and she practiced IP litigation at Wilson Sonsini before joining Google over 3 years ago.

Before retiring, Rose led Google’s trademark functions for 7+ years. During that time, Google went from near-zero revenue to building a $20B+/year business selling keyword advertising, of which an unknown amount is derived from the sale of third party trademarks. While not everything has gone smoothly for Google–most obviously there are 10 pending lawsuits over Google’s trademark policies–Google’s massive keyword advertising success and its ability to avoid a business-threatening/ending trademark lawsuit are both remarkable achievements that have made a lot of people a lot of money. Also remarkable is Google’s rapid ascendancy to become one of the world’s most recognized and cherished brands. Kudos to Rose on her role in these accomplishments. She leaves big shoes for Terri to fill.