Emerging Technologies Profile
What do you do? As an intellectual property attorney, I get to work with amazing and creative people to identify and protect what they have imagined and created. Some of these people are also business owners and I work with them to protect and enforce the reputational goodwill that they have earned with their customers and in the marketplace.
Why do you do what you do? I have always been interested in how things work and as an IP practitioner, I get to learn about new and developing technologies on a daily basis.
Describe your most memorable client interaction. Testing a semi-robotic bone shaver to be used in partial knee replacement on a disembodied leg in a cadaver lab.
Describe a client project (transaction/negotiation/dispute) that you are proud of. I handled a trade dress dispute relating to after-market grip tape for tennis rackets, in which a competitor was claiming they “owned” a large spectrum of the color blue for any grip tape. Facing an insurance coverage rejection, we were able to convince the carrier to reverse course and provide a defense in the infringement case. At the conclusion of a non-jury trial, the case resolved with a much narrower scope of protection for the competitor than they were claiming, which was a win for the client.
When you are not at work, you can be found… Working on house projects, exploring other cities, watching my kids play sports, or playing paddle.
Tell us something about yourself that most people wouldn’t know or guess. A few years ago, I had my own startup called “Othovibe”, which developed a shoe insert that helped train children not to walk on their toes. We had a prototype made, but ultimately realized the market was both too niche and too fragmented to support outside investment. This experience helps me relate in a unique way to my start-up clients.