Thomas E. Robertson

Thomas E. Robertson (May 7, 1871 – December 1957) was an American lawyer and government official who served as United States Commissioner of Patents from April 6, 1921, to June 25, 1933. His service was the longest term as commissioner in the history of the Patent Office, although William Thornton remained the longest-serving head of the office overall. The New York Intellectual Property Law Association later traced part of its own origin to the response of New York patent lawyers to Robertson's appeal for help in securing legislation to improve Patent Office staffing and salaries.

Several patent-law changes occurred while Robertson was commissioner. The USPTO biographical sketch lists among the legislative developments of his tenure the Plant Patent Act of 1930, provisions for filing notices of patent suits in the Patent Office, marking patented articles with patent numbers, reducing the period for renewing forfeited applications from two years to one year, and shortening the time for responding to Patent Office actions from one year to six months.

In 1925, Robertson served as chairman of the American delegation to the Hague conference that revised the international convention for the protection of industrial property.

Robertson's tenure also coincided with the final disposal of many old Patent Office models. In 1925, Congress authorized the sale of large numbers of patent models after decades of storage problems. According to a 1958 account in American Heritage, the Smithsonian Institution selected about 2,500 models and other museums or inventors took about 2,600 more, while another 50,000 models were sold at auction on December 3, 1925, for $1,550. Robertson reported to Congress that the price was "thought to be a good figure".

Later life Robertson left office on June 25, 1933, and was succeeded by Conway P. Coe.

Robertson died in December 1957.