Intellectual Property Today magazine has ranked Seed IP Law Group at #46 in its annual “Top Trademark Firms” survey. The data, gathered from reporting nationwide firms, is based on the total amount of United States trademark registrations issued in 2011 where the law firm, or member of the firm (i.e. partner/associate), is listed as the legal representative on the registration. Seed IP issued 202 trademark registrations in 2011. Seed IP has consistently been among the Top 100 in this annual survey.

Intellectual Property Today magazine has ranked Seed IP Law Group at #61 in its annual “Top Patent Firms” survey. The data, gathered from reporting nationwide firms, is based upon the total amount of United States patents issued in 2011 where the law firm, or member of the firm (i.e. partner/associate), is listed as the legal representative for the issued patent. Seed IP issued 602 patents in 2011. Seed IP has consistently been among the Top 100 in this annual survey.

Seed IP Law Group proudly welcomes Jeffrey C. Pepe, Ph.D., as Of Counsel in its Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Chemistry Group. Jeff has expertise in worldwide life science and chemical patent matters, including strategic planning, competitive analysis, due diligence, patent procurement, licensing, and enforcement. His scientific experience includes working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington and as a Microbiologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service. Jeff’s work as a graduate student and post-doctoral fellow was in the area of medical microbiology. He received a B.S. (1987) in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. (1993) in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, both from University of California – Los Angeles. Jeff received his J.D. (cum laude) from Seattle University School of Law in 2000.

Jeff is admitted to the Washington State Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Washington State Patent Law Association, and the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

See profile for Jeffrey Pepe

Seed IP Law Group proudly welcomes Margaret Valeur-Jensen, Ph.D., as Of Counsel in its Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Chemistry Group. Meg specializes in corporate partnering and licensing transactions along with a full range of clinical, regulatory, contracting and corporate services for emerging biotechnology companies. She received a B.A. in Biology in 1978 from Skidmore College, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1983 from Syracuse University. During the years 1983-1985, Meg was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Genetics, as well as at Massachusetts General Hospital, in the Department of Molecular Biology. She received her J.D. from Stanford University School of Law in 1988.

Meg is admitted to the New York State Bar, with pending bar admissions in the states of Washington and California. She is a member of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

See profile for Meg Valeur-Jensen

Seed IP’s Biotechnology, Chemistry & Pharmaceuticals Group proudly welcomes new associate Eileen S. Sun, Ph.D. Eileen specializes in U.S. and foreign biotechnology patent matters, including patent procurement, licensing, and strategic portfolio management. She received a B.S. in Biology in 1994 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Pathobiology in 2004 from University of Washington. Eileen received her J.D. (cum laude) from the Seattle University School of Law in 2009. During her scientific career, Eileen worked in the fields of genomics and infectious disease. Prior to joining Seed IP Law Group, she worked at several pharmaceutical companies, including Trubion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Emergent Product Development Seattle, LLC.

Eileen is admitted to the Washington State Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She is a member Washington State Patent Law Association and the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

See profile for Eileen Sun

A one-day seminar entitled “Impact of Changing Technology and IP Law on Employment Law” will take place on March 14 at the Washington Convention Center in Seattle. This seminar will cover important and evolving IP and Employment Law topics including employer strategies for protecting their intellectual property, privacy and data security, and trade secret protection. Employment law and intellectual property are inexorably linked. The intellectual property rights of employers are dependent on the employees who conduct important research, productive development planning, represent the company to external contacts, and oversee intangible assets such as trade secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks. At this comprehensive seminar, you will hear from some of the region’s leading practitioners on the important issues that permeate these overlapping fields of law. Employer strategies for protecting their intellectual property will be a primary focus, with in-depth discussion of the effective litigation strategies and preparation tips as well as the relative advantages of mediation over litigation. You will also learn about recent developments in privacy law and their impact on trade secret protection, the respective rights of employers and employees relative to social media, as well as the most important case law and statutory updates from the previous year in both intellectual property and employment law including the historic patent reforms in America Invents Act. The seminar faculty will explore these questions and provide practical tips that employers and practitioners can use to effectively manage risks in this important area of law.

If these topics are of interest to you, we encourage you to make plans to attend. The expected audience will include
in-house and private practice attorneys, human resource professionals, CIOs and all intellectual property professionals.

William O. Ferron, Jr. (Partner, Seed IP Law Group PLLC) is the Program Co-Chair, and Timothy L. Boller (Partner, Seed IP Law Group PLLC) will be a featured speaker.

Seed IP Law Group proudly welcomes Michael J. Freno as Of Counsel in the IP Enforcement & Litigation Group. Michael counsels clients on intellectual property matters and specializes in intellectual property litigation and opinions relating to validity and infringement. His litigation practice includes formulating strategy, conducting pre-trial discovery, brief writing, trial, and appeal, which builds upon over ten years of experience handling complex litigation matters. He graduated magna cum laude in chemistry from Kenyon College in 1993, and obtained a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1997. Michael received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2001. Michael is admitted to the New York State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

See profile for Michael Freno

Seed IP Law Group proudly welcomes Karen M. Henckel as Of Counsel in the Mechanical Engineering Group. Karen specializes in preparing and prosecuting patent applications over a broad range of mechanical and electro-mechanical technologies. She also counsels clients in other areas of intellectual property law including validity and infringement analysis, agreements, and technology licensing. Karen received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Washington and a J.D. from the Arizona State University. She is admitted to the Washington State Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Karen is a member Washington State Patent Law Association and the King County Bar Association.

See profile for Karen Henckel

Law students Eben D. Allen (Seattle University School of Law) and Duncan Stark (University of Washington School of Law) were recently selected as the recipients of Seed Intellectual Property Law Group’s annual Founders Scholarships for year 2011. In 2003, Seed IP Law Group created two scholarships to honor its founders, Richard W. Seed and Benjamin F. Berry. Seed IP Law Group’s Founders Scholarships are given annually to students at the University of Washington and Seattle University Schools of Law. Seed IP seeks to annually recognize outstanding students who have a keen interest in the field of intellectual property law and who also have an undergraduate degree that qualifies him/her to sit for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Bar Exam. “We think it’s very important to train the next generation of intellectual property attorneys so that we can continue to build on the legacy started by Ben Berry and Dick Seed,” said Karl R. Hermanns, Seed IP’s Managing Partner. “Only through strong support of higher education will our country continue to be a leader in the world.”

Seed IP Law Group PLLC is the Silver Sponsor for the upcoming MIT Enterprise Forum, “Cloud by Example:  Exploring the Business Case for Cloud Computing,” taking place on Nov. 16, 2011, from 5:00 - 8:30 p.m., at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), in Seattle.

Moderating the panel discussion will be Tim Porter, General Partner, Madrona Venture Group.

The panelists include Damon Danieli, Founder and CTO, Z2Live, Inc.; Ingvar Petursson, Senior Vice President, Information Technology, Nintendo; Ashwin Muthuvenkataraman, Product Manager, Expedia; and JB Brown, Innovation Lab Program Manager, Nordstrom.

The forum will explore the process of selecting, implementing, and managing a cloud computing solution from the perspective of four use cases: (a) migrating enterprise applications; (b) enabling rapid development and fast go-to-market; (c) deploying mobile applications; and, (d) deploying social/gaming applications.

You’ll hear from this panel of experienced cloud users and benefit from the lessons they’ve learned in implementing cloud-based solutions. The panelists will discuss the business and product needs that led them to adopt cloud computing and how they evaluated various cloud providers to find those best suited to their requirements. The panel will provide insight into the challenges and opportunities involved in implementing a cloud-based solution.

Please see full details about this event, including program, pricing, registration, and directions, at the link below.

Click here for more details.