Brazil
Luiz Otavio Pimentel (right) has been appointed as president of Brazil’s patent and trade mark office, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).
The appointment was published in the Official Gazette on July 28.
Pimentel is associate professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, teaching intellectual property and innovation. He holds a degree in Law and Social Sciences from Cruz Alta Law School, a master's degree in Law from the Federal University of Santa Catarina and PhD in Legal Studies.
Otávio Brandelli left the role in April this year, with Ademir Tardelli acting as interim president since then.
Canada
Intellectual property lawyer and patent agent Stephen Ferance (left) has joined Canadian law firm Gowlings as a partner in its Vancouver office.
His practice is focused on patent prosecution and portfolio management in the high-tech innovation sector. He was previously a partner at Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh.
John Bochnovic (right) has been appointed as the executive director for Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI), effective September 1. He will be based in Zurich at the General Secretariat of AIPPI.
In the role, Bochnovic will assist with AIPPI’s programme development and work to enhance AIPPI’s position and influence, serving as a liaison with international and regional governmental organisations, including the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization.
Bochnovic was a partner at Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh for 29 years and has served as counsel since January 2015. He was the chair of the Firm from 2008 to 2014. He also served as president of AIPPI for a two-year term beginning in October 2012.
United States
Andrea Reid (left) has joined Dechert as a partner in the intellectual property practice in the Boston office. Reid was previously a partner at Choate Hall and Stewart LLP.
Reid’s practice is focused on patent portfolio creation and management counselling for the pharmaceutical industry, as well as conducting IP due diligence and advising litigation teams on technical scientific concepts.
Bruce Keller has left his role as head of Debevoise & Plimpton’s intellectual property litigation group to become an assistant US attorney for the District of New Jersey, as reported in The American Lawyer. He will serve in the office’s appeals division.
Keller joined Debevoise in 1982, becoming partner in 1988.
Haynes and Boone has added partners and associates of Mavrakakis Law Group, resulting in an expansion of the firm’s Silicon Valley office and the establishment of a Chicago office.
Moving to Haynes and Boone are Palo Alto partners Tom Mavrakakis and Brian Kwok and Chicago partners Jim Shimota and Howard Levin. Mavrakakis is the former director of patent strategy at Apple. Shimota will serve as the new Chicago office administrative partner.
Associates joining Haynes and Boone are Amy Liang, Christopher Lubeck, Aaron Taggart and Braden Tilghman.
Jane Love and Robert Trenchard (right) are joining Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s New York office as partners practicing intellectual property and life sciences litigation. They were previously partners with Wilmer Hale.
Love has practiced with Wilmer Hale since 2001 and served as co-vice chair of its IP practice. Trenchard has practiced with Wilmer Hale since 2003, and has 20 years of experience in life sciences and patent litigation.
Trade mark and copyright specialist Lisa Martens (left) has joined the Del Mar, California office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton as a partner in the intellectual property practice group. Martens joins from Fish & Richardson.
Martens’ practice focuses on the protection and enforcement of brands for clients ranging from start-ups and emerging companies to Fortune 500 corporations. She counsels clients in a wide variety of industries, including the biotechnology, food and beverage, healthcare, e-commerce, semiconductor, and retail clothing industries.
David Newman has joined Gould & Ratner as chair of the intellectual property group, and a partner in the litigation and business counselling and transactional practices.
Newman focuses his practice in the areas of patents, trade marks, copyrights and trade secrets. He was formerly with the Chicago office of Loeb & Loeb.
Mark Danielson has joined Foley & Lardner as a partner in the Silicon Valley office. He is an intellectual property counsellor specialising in electronics.
Danielson was previously a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Before becoming a lawyer, Danielson served in engineering positions at IBM, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Texas Instruments and GTE Corporation.
Patent litigator John Gresens (right) has joined Akerman’s Chicago office as a partner in the intellectual property practice group.
Gresens focuses his practice on patent litigation, strategic counselling and opinions, as well as inter partes matters at the USPTO. He was at Troutman Sanders since 2011.
Jennifer Fraser (left) has joined Dykema’s intellectual property practice group as a member in the Washington DC, office. She previously served as co-chair of Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg’s national trade mark and copyright practice.
Fraser represents clients in matters involving trade mark procurement and protection as well as trade mark and copyright litigation.
Patrice Jean (right) has joined Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s intellectual property practice as a partner in the New York office. She was previously a partner at Kenyon & Kenyon.
Jean has experience in both contentious and non-contentious patent matters involving pharmaceutical products, bio-engineered cells, animal vaccines, medical devices, and diagnostic tests.
