Press Releases

CHICAGO - Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the United States, is pleased to announce its newly-named Board of Directors for 2009. The new Board members are:

Meredith Martin Addy - Ms. Addy, chair of the Appellate Group at Brinks, focuses on intellectual property litigation, including appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She works with high-tech companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, electronics and software industries. Ms. Addy represented clients from three of the Top 13 Patent Cases of 2007, as reported by the IPO Daily NewsTM. She was named as one of the "Top 10 Illinois Super Lawyers" across all practice areas for 2008. Ms. Addy, a former law clerk to the Honorable Paul R. Michel, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, is active at the Federal Circuit both as counsel and as a member of the Federal Circuit Advisory Council. She also serves as president of the Chicago-based Richard Linn American Inn of Court. Ms. Addy also is named one of the "Top 50 Women Illinois Super Lawyers" for the fourth year as determined by Law & Politics magazine and again as one of the "Top 50 Leading Women Business Lawyers in Illinois" by the Leading Lawyers Network. She is listed as a leading Illinois IP lawyer by Chambers USA for 2006, 2007 and 2008 and in The Best Lawyers in America for 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2004, Ms. Addy was named to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's "40 Illinois Attorneys under Forty to Watch." She received her B.S. in electrical engineering and her B.A. in fine arts from Rice University; her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law and her LL.M., in intellectual property, with honors, from The John Marshall Law School.

Harold V. Johnson - Mr. Johnson joined Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in 1984. His practice includes litigation in patents, trade secrets, unfair competition and antitrust, patent prosecution and counseling in all areas of intellectual property. His primary focus is patent litigation and counseling in a wide range of disciplines including medical devices, semiconductor technology, computer hardware and software, optical storage discs automotive systems and various consumer products. Prior to joining Brinks, Mr. Johnson was an engineer for General Electric Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for various national defense projects, including the design, installation and support of a multiplexed computer simulation system. Mr. Johnson received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Michigan Technical University and his J.D., cum laude, from Albany Law School of Union University.

Richard A. Kaplan - Mr. Kaplan is a trial lawyer specializing in patent, trade secret and related antitrust, unfair competition and contract matters. He has extensive experience in the litigation of damages in patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation cases and is experienced in jury and bench trials, Federal Circuit appeals and appeals in other federal circuits. His achievements include work in major profile cases resulting in multi-million dollar recoveries, as well as in defending against cases where such amounts were sought and has tried cases resulting in jury verdicts of millions of dollars. He was lead trial counsel in successfully defending against a billion-dollar patent infringement case. He has represented clients in Fortune 500 corporations and in the fields of medical devices, life sciences, biotech as well as power tools and equipment and technology. Mr. Kaplan has been named one of the Top 100 Illinois Super Lawyers for 2009 across all practice areas and has been designated an Illinois Super Lawyer since 2005 by Law & Politics magazine. He has been named a Leading Intellectual Property Lawyer from 2004 to the present by the Leading Lawyers Network and listed in the Guide to the World's Leading Patent Law Practitioners by the Legal Media Group. Mr. Kaplan organizes and participates in trade missions to Israel and is active in numerous legal, business and civic organizations, including vice-chair, Trade Secrets & Unfair Competition Committee of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago; master, Richard Linn American Inn of Court; senior vice president of the America Israel Chamber of Commerce Chicago; member of the board of directors of American Associates, Ben Gurion University of the Negev; member of the Chicago Region board of directors of the Jewish National Fund; member of the board of directors of the Princeton Club of Chicago; and, campaign chair of the United Way of the North Shore, Highland Park/Highwood Chapter, to name a few. Mr. Kaplan received his B.S.E., magna cum laude, in civil engineering from Princeton University and his J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University.

Robert S. Mallin - Mr. Mallin has extensive litigation experience in a variety of patent and trademark cases, including first chair jury trial matters, arbitration proceedings and ITC proceedings. He has prepared for and participated in preliminary injunction proceedings and Markman hearings. His litigation experience also includes taking and defending depositions, preparing and arguing case-dispositive motions, and conducting all discovery matters. He has successfully used the reexamination process in the PTO to invalidate patents and avoid costly litigation for his clients. He has further represented and counseled clients in matters involving patent holding companies. Mr. Mallin also counsels clients on licensing, patentability, freedom to operate and validity matters. He has significant patent prosecution experience, including experience in interference proceedings, patent prosecution and counseling, including the use of reexamination to invalidate a patent during litigation; providing; and licensing. He is knowledgeable in such technical areas as metallurgical processing, electromechanical inventions, mechanical inventions, chemical processing, optical fiber connectors and thermoplastic adhesives and the automotive industry and biotechnology. Mr. Mallin received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois and his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Charles M. McMahon - Mr. McMahon counsels clients and litigates in the areas of patent, trademark, copyright and unfair competition law. He has represented domestic and multinational clients in federal courts and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the International Trade Commission and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also prepares and prosecutes patent applications and assists clients in the negotiation and preparation of licensing agreements. Mr. McMahon's work has involved a variety of technical areas, including vehicular transmission systems, hearing systems, wireless communications, solid-state electronics, encryption systems, digital imaging systems, electronic measurement devices, software applications and online business-to-business exchange systems. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. Prior to joining Brinks, Mr. McMahon was a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Randall R. Rader of the Federal Circuit.

Gary M. Ropski - Mr. Ropski is president of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione and has practiced intellectual property law exclusively since joining the firm in 1976. His practice now focuses on litigation, but has included patent prosecution and litigation; trademark prosecution, including oppositions and litigation; trade dress litigation; copyright registration and litigation; trade secret litigation; right of publicity counseling and litigation; and, related unfair competition and antitrust matters in federal and state courts. Mr. Ropski has received numerous awards, including being named as a Leading Illinois Intellectual Property Lawyer by Chambers USA for four consecutive years and one of the Top 10 Leading Lawyers for Business in Illinois by the Leading Lawyers Network. Mr. Ropski has also been recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer in Intellectual Property Litigation and was named one of the Top 10 Super Lawyers in Illinois in 2006 and 2007. He received his B.S. in physics from Carnegie-Mellon University and his J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law.

Andrew D. Stover - Mr. Stover's practice includes litigation, counseling and patent prosecution. He has extensive experience preparing and prosecuting U.S., foreign and international patent applications, advising and counseling clients about all aspects of patent law and preparing non-infringement, patentability and invalidity opinions. His patent prosecution experience has been primarily concentrated in the mechanical and electro-mechanical arts, including medical devices, scanning and detecting equipment, textile machinery and products, agricultural machinery and products, packaging machinery and products and office furniture products. Prior to joining Brinks, Mr. Stover provided stress analysis and engineering dispositions to ensure the structural integrity of parts and assemblies designed for the F-15 aircraft, prepared and analyzed finite element models of the F-15 aircraft and its components, designed detailed structural parts and assemblies for the F/A-18 aircraft and provided engineering support for manufacturing. Mr. Stover received his B.S. and his M.S. in mechanical engineering from Washington University and his J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law.

Ms. Addy, Mr. McMahon and Mr. Ropski will serve on the Executive Committee for 2009 along with chief operating officer, Bruce Weisseg and firm counsel and shareholder, John K. Lucas.

In addition, the firm has announced its newly-named practice group chairs for 2009. The new chairs by practice group are:

Anti-Counterfeiting - John T. Gabrielides
Appellate - Meredith Martin Addy
Complex Commercial Litigation - Ralph J. Gabric
Copyright - William H. Frankel
Intellectual Asset Management - Amir N. Penn
Interference - Glen P. Belvis
International Patent - Michael E. Milz
International Trade Commission - Laura Beth Miller
International Trademark - Mary M. Squyres
Licensing - Margaret A. Dobrowitsky
Patent Litigation - Timothy Q. Delaney
Trade Secret - Richard A. Kaplan
Trademark Litigation - David S. Fleming
U.S. Patent Prosecution - G. Peters Nichols
U.S. Trademark Prosecution - Philip A. Jones

Industry team Chairs have also been named. The new chairs for 2009 by industry team are:

Alternative Energy - James P. Naughton
Biotech/Pharma - K. Shannon Mrksich, Ph.D.
Chemical - Thomas J. Filarski
Electrical/Computer - James A. Collins
Mechanical - Michael E. Milz
Nanotechnology - Lawrence G. Almeda

Founded in 1917, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is based in Chicago with five additional offices across the country serving the intellectual property needs of clients from around the world. The firm is one of the largest IP law firms in the country, with more than 170 attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents specializing in intellectual property litigation and all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, intellectual asset management, and technology and licensing agreements. Brinks routinely handles assignments in fields as diverse as electrical, chemical, mechanical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, Internet and computer technology, as well as in trademarks and brand names for a wide variety of products and services.