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Year in Review 2015

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Expanding our reach and our services to protect your difference
A LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Joshua A. Lorentz | Cincinnati, OH

As the Chair of the Intellectual Property Department, I understand you invest in Dinsmore to protect your brands and technology. As a result, I’m committed to offering a deep bench of professionals with experience and understanding of the IP legal landscape, and in 2015, our firm merged with an IP boutique firm in Michigan. This demonstrates my ongoing commitment to meet your current and future needs.

My goal, in alignment with the firm, is to continue to enhance our IP Department's knowledge and resources. To accomplish this, we will make strategic moves to continue growing in cities like D.C., Denver, Chicago and now, through recent mergers, Detroit and San Diego.

We recognize the hard work and challenges that go into product development and marketing, and we help our clients seize opportunities and defend against threats that could harm their business. What’s more, from the initial development, we proactively look down the road at potential threats and prepare to meet them head on before they even happen.

As we embark on 2016, rest assured we are committed to being your frontline protection. You can continue to look to us for a strong team who understands advanced technology, protects and defends your innovations and brands and is positioned to support your needs. My team and I look forward to helping you achieve your goals in the coming year.

Highlights


DINSMORE INCREASES SERVICES
TO CLIENTS WITH IP MERGER

In September, Dinsmore merged with Michigan-based Intellectual Property (IP) boutique firm, Gifford, Krass, Sprinkle, Anderson & Citkowski, P.C. (Gifford Krass) to strengthen our presence for existing clients and deepen our bench of IP attorneys.

“Combining with Gifford Krass complements the deep talent we currently have in the IP area and makes geographic sense as we broaden the scope of services for our clients,” said George H. Vincent, Dinsmore’s Managing Partner & Chairman

The merger added 17 experienced IP attorneys. With the addition, Dinsmore’s IP Department includes more than 75 attorneys (including more than 50 patent attorneys) ranking Dinsmore in the nation’s top 50 firms based on number of patent attorneys, according to rankings compiled by IP Today.

“The ability to service clients is a priority, and our continued growth demonstrates that commitment,” said Joshua A. Lorentz, Dinsmore’s Chair of the IP Department and IP Litigation Practice Group and member of both the firm’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee. “This merger further solidified our already strong IP Department and the service we provide our clients.”

APPELLATE WIN SAVES
OHIO-BASED BUSINESS

Joshua A. Lorentz | Cincinnati, OH
Brian S. Sullivan | Cincinnati, OH
John D. Luken | Cincinnati, OH

By the time a team of Dinsmore attorneys took over the representation of The Ohio Willow Wood Company (OWW) in a patent infringement lawsuit in Florida, the Mt. Sterling-based prosthetics manufacturer had been found to infringe a patent licensed by a direct competitor, had been permanently enjoined from further manufacture of the accused prosthetic “liners” (cushioning devices worn over the residuum of an amputated limb designed to improve the amputee’s comfort and safety), and had been found in contempt of the permanent injunction. The contempt order appointed a receiver to oversee the company’s affairs and, crucially, prohibited OWW from manufacturing or selling any replacement liners, which accounted for the majority of its business, without prior court approval. In addition, OWW had incurred nearly $20 million in damages.

The Dinsmore attorneys’ first priority was getting our client’s main product line back on the market.

“The most important part of this case—for us and our client—was to get the company back in business. They had been blocked from selling their most important line of products, and they did not want to lay off any of their employees,” said John Luken.

Dinsmore filed a successful request in the district court for approval of replacement liners, and OWW was able to resume manufacture and sale of its most important product.

At the same time, Dinsmore filed for an emergency stay of the contempt order in the Federal Circuit. The court of appeals granted the stay request, and then, after full briefing and argument on the merits, reversed and vacated the district court’s judgments and ordered the complaint to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, thereby overturning the damages awards against OWW. The appellate team, led by Mr. Luken, then successfully opposed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“It was a vindication of our position and an important win for the client,” said Joshua Lorentz, Chair of the Intellectual Property Department. “We appreciate this is a family-owned company with a long history helping amputees. It was important to them to make sure they didn’t lose their business, so it was just as important to us.”

OWW is a family-owned business run by the third and fourth generations. The company was founded in 1907 by a bilateral amputee, who began hand carving willow wood for prosthetic use.

IPO CHICAGO 2015: BOURBON & MORE

Joshua A. Lorentz | Cincinnati, OH
Geoffrey L. Oberhaus | Cincinnati, OH

Dinsmore IP attorneys hosted their third consecutive “Bourbon & more” event at the 43rd annual Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) meeting last fall in Chicago.

According to its website, IPO was established in 1972 and is a trade association for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. IPO is the only association in the U.S. that serves all intellectual property owners in all industries and all fields of technology. IPO is the largest meeting of IP owners.

How would we let the rest of the IP community know of our continued growth and transformation into a national IP practice in a creative and engaging way? We also wanted to give the attendees a taste of our culture. So, we literally gave them a taste of our culture by bringing pieces of “home” to the meeting.

With all those IP owners gathered in one place, Dinsmore attorneys, led by Department Chair Josh Lorentz, set out to put their stamp on the event…literally.

“We hand out the samples ourselves,” said Lorentz. “I felt it was important to have a personal interaction with the people who took the time to come to our event. We wanted to let each person know we treat our clients as individuals, take time to get to know them and take a personal interest in protecting their work,” he added. “We understand IP owners dedicate their lives to developing new ideas and technology. That’s important to them, and it’s important to us.”

Headquartered in Cincinnati, with locations in Kentucky, the team decided to bring a piece of the Bourbon Trail to the meeting. Those who completed all five stops were included in a drawing for a bottle of bourbon.

And what better way to finish off a bourbon tasting than with a sampling of Cincinnati’s famous Graeter’s® Ice Cream? Attendees were treated to Black Raspberry Chip.

Dinsmore's original bourbon tasting event, held in Boston in 2013, was a hit. The team followed up with an even bigger one in Vancouver in 2014 and built on it even more in Chicago last year.

The event in the Windy City included two distillery representatives who discussed the bourbon manufacturing process, as well as IP owner Rich Graeter, a friend and client of Dinsmore, who discussed their famous ice cream and their branding.

Since the first Bourbon & more event, attendance has more than doubled enabling us to personally introduce our firm to hundreds of IP owners.

“Every year, the event gets bigger and better,” said Geoffrey Oberhaus, a partner in Dinsmore’s IP Department. "As part of our continuous improvement process, each year we look to further enhance the event."

NEW TALENT:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Dinsmore continues to grow in strategic locations and attract some of the most knowledgeable and talented IP attorneys — from across industries and America.

Ann Arbor, MI
John G. Posa (Partner)

Julie K. Staple, Ph.D. (Partner)

Douglas L. Wathen (Partner)


Cincinnati, OH
Ashley J. Earle (Associate)

Bethany R. Lahmann (Associate)

Sanjana Mangalagiri (Associate)

Ritu Singh (Associate)

Michael J. Wheeler (Associate)


Dayton, OH
Lawrence A. Fathman (Associate)

Jennifer H. Lunn, Ph.D. (Associate)


Denver, CO
James A. Pinto (Partner)


Detroit, MI
Thomas E. Anderson (Partner)

John Chau (Partner)

Julie A. Greenberg (Partner)

Mark A. Harper, Ph.D. (Partner)

Erin Morgan Klug (Partner)

Kevin MacKenzie (Partner)

Douglas J. McEvoy (Partner)

Mark Schneider (Partner)

Cesare A. Sclafani (Partner)

Douglas W. Sprinkle (Partner)

Ronald W. Citkowski (Of Counsel)

Ernest I. Gifford (Of Counsel)

Allen M. Krass (Of Counsel)


Mystic, CT
Weston R. Gould, Ph.D. (Partner)


Pittsburgh, PA
Anthony L. Pisano (Associate)