Industry moves and mergers

INTA has announced the appointment of Jennifer M McDowell as director, government relations in its Washington DC office. McDowell will serve as the organisation’s liaison with federal and state policy makers and government officials, as well as contributing to the development of INTA’s positions on national and global IP issues and supporting related INTA committees. She brings to INTA more than 16 years of experience in developing, negotiating and implementing domestic policy and international commitments regarding IP rights at the Office of the US Trade Representative and the USPTO. INTA has also announced the retirement of Deborah Cohn, senior director of government relations, effective from 2 August.

Stephen Coates has left Amazon to open his own firm, Coates IP. In his previous role, Coates – who has over two decades of combined experience in private practice and in-house – managed trademarks and the domain name portfolio for the internet giant. Before that, he was Twitter’s first IP counsel, managing its trademark, internet governance and domain name practices.

The Glasgow office of CMS has appointed IP specialist Neeraj Thomas as a consultant in its technology and media practice. He joins from Burness Paull, where he was a senior associate.

IP services business Rouse has announced the acquisition of Swedish IP firm IPQ. The move represents the first continental European acquisition from Rouse, with the Stockholm-based IPQ boasting a 17-strong business that will now operate under the name Rouse AB. Partners Thomas Randes, Michael Kitzler and Erik Oskarsson will become Rouse principals.

In the United Kingdom, the Queen has appointed Mr Justice Arnold as a Lord Justice of Appeal, filling a vacancy at the Court of Appeal. Arnold holds the record for highest number of IP referrals to the European Court of Justice by an individual judge.

Joshua Walker has joined Aon as chief product officer for IP solutions. Walker comes from Simpson Thacher & Barlett, where he was head of Silicon Valley IP transactions. He is also the co-founder of Lex Machina.

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has bolstered its IP presence in the United Kingdom through the acquisition of boutique firm James Love Legal. The latter was set up a decade ago by James Love, former head of intellectual property at Pinsent Masons. His team will now be based in WBD’s Leeds office.

John L Buchanan has joined Greenberg Traurig as an associate in the IP and technology practice, working out of the Boston office. Meanwhile, IP litigator David S Bloch has joined the firm as a shareholder in its San Francisco office. Bloch comes from Winston & Strawn where he has spent 13 years as a partner in its IP practice.

Boutique law firm Fairchild Morgan Law has announced that Debra J Stanek has joined as senior counsel. Previously, she was assistant general counsel and data protection officer for Wilton Brands, overseeing intellectual property, marketing and matters related to GDPR and data privacy.

Robert Scheinfeld has been named co-chair of Baker Botts’s IP department. He joins Dallas IP partner Bart Showalter as department co-chair and will assume the role of sole chair on 1 January 2020. Scheinfeld is a former partner-in-charge of Baker Botts’s New York office and helmed the firm’s New York IP section for more than 15 years.

Milbank has grown its litigation and arbitration group with the hire of four former Irell & Manella IP litigators. David Gindler, Gary Frischling, Lauren Drake and John Lu have joined as partners and will work out of the Los Angeles office. Gindler, Drake and Lu focus on cases and issues relating to patents. Frischling, who also litigates patent matters, further handles copyright, trademark, unfair competition and trade secret disputes.

Stephen P Benson and Kimberly A Beis have joined the Chicago office of Freeborn & Peters as partners in the litigation and IP practices. Both are litigators who have joined the firm from Katten Muchin Rosenman.

Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton has announced the hiring of Stacey C Friends as a trademark attorney. She will handle all aspects of brand selection, as well as trademark clearance, registration and enforcement, both nationally and internationally, for large and small companies.

Nicole Smith has been appointed to partner in the IP practice of Jones Day. Smith focuses on patent litigation but also has experience of litigating related IP rights such as trademarks. She will be working out of the firm’s Los Angeles office.