Cooper Woodring, FIDSA

Cooper C. Woodring, FIDSA, was a former President and Chair of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in design from the renowned Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Woodring spent the majority of his career as manager of product design and new product development at JCPenney Company in New York City, America’s third largest retailer at that time. He also: received an appointment from President Ronald Reagan to head the United States Information Agency’s Cultural Exchange Mission, “Design in America,” behind the then-Iron Curtain became the first industrial designer to address The Conference Board, the prestigious Fortune 500 organization served two terms as mayor of his then-hometown of Plandome, NY testified before the US Congress on The Industrial Design Innovation and Technology Act (HR1790 & S791) is represented in New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Collection and in Washington, DC’s Smithsonian Museum was an invited presenter at the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s first annual Design Day in 2006, as well as in 2010 and 2015 received more than 30 US design and utility patents   Woodring’s inventions include decorative Venetian blinds, a handheld food processor, a bicycle brake, and nesting, injection-molded rocking chairs. He received the industrial design profession’s highest award, IDSA’s Personal Recognition Award (now IDSA’s Individual Achievement Award), in 1992. He also was a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association. Woodring served as an expert witness in design patent litigation. He co-founded the Design Protection Section of IDSA; and in 2007, served a 10-month term as interim executive director of IDSA. In 2008, Woodring teamed up with Perry J. Saidman, Esq. to teach a two-day IDSA Continuing Education seminar to a group of leading, US-based industrial designers. It was called, “How to Serve as an Expert Witness in Design Patent Litigation.”  A second, similar seminar was held in 2015, when Woodring collaborated with Christopher V. Carani, Esq.  Woodring also represented Apple in its litigation against Samsung.