Thomas (TJ) Gohn

TJ focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and has represented clients in patent, copyright, and trademark disputes. His experience spans a variety of industries and technologies, including electronics, two-factor authentication, computer rendering, and data and signal processing.

Before joining Maier and Maier, TJ litigated intellectual property cases defending against non-practicing entities and provided IP counsel for mergers and acquisitions. He also practiced in the Middle East litigating international regulatory and diplomatic disputes.

TJ is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Experience:

  • Defense of national banks in the Eastern District of Texas relating to claims of infringement of two-factor authentication patent; obtained favorable settlement.
  • Assertion of valve and pump technology patents for oil and gas company in the Northern District of Texas; case resulted in favorable settlement.
  • Defense of large hospitality company in the Eastern District of Texas relating to claims of infringement of patents for website suggested search technology; obtained favorable settlement.
  • Assertion of trademark claims for bespoke software developer in District of Massachusetts; case resulted in favorable settlement for client with defendant agreeing to change name.
  • Defense of major western wear client against right of publicity claim in Eastern District of Arkansas; resulted in favorable settlement.
  • Defense of prolific marketing analytics company; obtained favorable settlement of patent infringement claims brought in the Eastern District of Texas.
  • Defense of one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers; obtained settlement of patent infringement claims brought in the International Trade Commission.
  • Defense of marketing firm in copyright infringement case; obtained favorable settlement.
  • Pro Bono representation of veteran in consumer protection lawsuit brought in Texas state court. Case resulted in favorable settlement with defendant agreeing to pay all client damages.

Kazuyuki Nakai

Kazuyuki Nakai is a highly experienced Japanese Patent Attorney and intellectual property specialist. Mr. Nakai’s experience includes all aspects of intellectual property law, including patent and trademark portfolio management.  Prior to joining Maier & Maier, Mr. Nakai served as in-house counsel and intellectual property manager for a multi-national corporation. In his prior roles, Mr. Nakai has been in charge of administration of patent and trademark rights, developing strong intellectual property positions, soliciting new inventions for protection and commercialization, intellectual property training and coordination with engineers and business units, as well as preparing intellectual property related reports, opinions, and searches. Before entering the intellectual property field, Mr. Nakai worked as a sound engineer in the United States and Japan.

Mr. Nakai is a Japanese Patent Attorney and he obtained his Bachelor of Economics degree from Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan.


Kathleen Cooney-Porter

Ms. Cooney-Porter has practiced Trademark law for almost 30 years. Most recently, she worked as a consultant providing expert advice on trademark prosecution, trademark evaluation, trademark branding, and managing outside counsel for a California-based start-up.

Prior to her position as a consultant, she was appointed as Senior Trademark Advisor to the Office of the Under Secretary and Director of The United States Patent and Trademark Office.  While serving in this role, she participated in the Under Secretary’s external and internal meetings on a regular and recurring basis ensuring that the views of the Under Secretary were communicated in an accurate, consistent, and professional manner. She also partnered with USPTO Business Units to ensure Under Secretary’s vision and goals were considered when creating and implementing trademark programs and policies and built alliances and consensus by sharing knowledge and responding to, addressing, and elevating high level concerns promptly. Ms. Cooney-Porter also worked with Department of Commerce, other Administration agencies and Congress to ensure that all groups were notified timely and provided accurate pre-briefs, as necessary, concerning any significant agency announcements. She reviewed Solicitor’ s briefs prior to filing with Federal Circuit and consulted with Solicitor’s Office and Department of Justice on two significant Supreme Court cases. She reviewed all documents pertaining to any trademark matter including but not limited to operations, examination, trademark rules of practice, legal briefs, and memoranda for final review by the Under Secretary. She assisted Trademark Operations on several anti-counterfeiting efforts and policies including negotiations with the National Crime Prevention Council on a 5-year joint project to educate the public of dangers of counterfeits. Contract signed Fall 2020. She attended the Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) round table with other government officials on anti-counterfeiting efforts and policies.

Prior to her position at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, she was a Principal at Muncy, Geissler, Olds & Lowe, P.C., since 2016, advising clients on how to enhance, secure, leverage and enforce their marks and brand portfolio, and as a Managing Partner at Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C., where she managed the Trademark and Copyright practice groups and represented clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

During her tenure in private practice, Ms. Cooney-Porter served a three-year term as an appointee to the USPTO’s Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) where she advised the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the USPTO on matters relating to trademark policies, goals, performance, budget and user fees.

Prior to working in private practice, Ms. Cooney-Porter worked as a Trademark Examining Attorney for over eight years.

Ms. Cooney-Porter has a Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She resides in McLean, Virginia with her husband and twin teenage daughters.


Max Kaganov

Max Kaganov is the Office Representative for our Miami office.  Mr. Kaganov is a registered patent attorney and practices all aspects of intellectual property law, including utility patent and design patent drafting and prosecution, freedom-to-operate and infringement opinions, and trademark prosecution, oppositions, and cancellations. Max’s utility patent experience spans a variety of arts, such as mechanical engineering, medical devices, RFID devices and the manufacture thereof, wind turbines, as well as batch production, electrical, and software technologies. A particular focus of Max’s practice is the drafting and prosecution of design patents.

Max received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College, where he majored in chemistry with a focus on physical chemistry and materials science. He obtained his Juris Doctor, in the patent law specialty track, from George Mason University School of Law. A native speaker of Russian and proficient in Spanish, Max has obtained  patent protection in the United States for Eastern European and Latin American clients. Max is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office, the Virginia State Bar, and the Florida Bar.


Michael J. Collins

Michael Collins has twenty-nine years of experience litigating patent, trade secret, unfair competition and other technology-related matters. In recent years, his practice has concentrated on patent litigation, representing both patent owners and defendants in federal district courts throughout the country. He has also represented clients in post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Section 337 investigations before the International Trade Commission and appeals before the Federal Circuit. In addition to patent litigation, Michael has substantial experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in trade secret matters in the state courts of both Texas and Florida. He was named a “Texas Super Lawyer” in the area of Intellectual Property Litigation in each of the years from 2013 through 2018.

Michael has handled cases involving a wide range of technologies, including semiconductors, oil and gas production, materials science, software, consumer electronics, wireless telecommunications systems, LED display panels, vehicle location tracking, optics, building structures, medical devices, food processing, transportation, conventional and nuclear power, petrochemicals, industrial valves, combined cycle gas turbines, petrochemical catalyst handling methods, corrugated packaging, and flywheel energy storage systems.


Dennis Ahearn

Dennis Ahearn is senior counsel for Maier and Maier.  Previously, Dennis was IP and Technology Law Counsel at Science Applications International Corporation (“SAIC”), Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology Law at Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Chief IP Counsel at COMSAT Corporation.  Dennis has a wealth of experience in procuring, managing and enforcing intellectual property rights globally for these and other corporations in major technical areas, and in data rights in Government Contracts, Government cyber-security requirements, IP rights in mergers and acquisitions and other transactions, Open Source Software acquisition, usage and licensing, trademark portfolio development and management, internet usage, and litigation management.  Additionally, Dennis is highly experienced in providing IP development, protection, usage, licensing, sale, and other monetization counsel.  His areas of interest include aerospace and defense, advanced telecommunications, commercial space activities, artificial intelligence and robotics, alternative energy, and internet activities and cyber-security. Dennis received his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Yale, completed his J.D. at the University of San Francisco and served in the U. S. Air Force before beginning his law career.


Christopher J. Maier

Christopher Maier 변호사는 미국 특허청에 등록된 특허 변호사로서 특허 출원, 재심사, 소송, 무효심판 등을 포함한 지적재산권 전반에 대한 업무를 수행하고 있습니다. 또한 지금까지 전자 및 컴퓨터, 소프트웨어, 기계, 의료 장비 등을 포함하는 다양한 기술 분야에서 특허 경험을 쌓아 왔습니다.

Christopher Maier 변호사는 특허 심사관으로서 미국 특허청에 근무한 경력을 가지고 있습니다. 심사관으로서 재직할 당시 담당했던 분야는 디스플레이 및 컴퓨터 관련 기술이었습니다.

또한, Christopher Maier 변호사는 지재권 최신 트렌드와 전략에 대해 다양한 국가에서 강사로 활동하고 있습니다. 그는 American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) 의 위원장을 역임했으며, 재직 중 AIPLA의 다양한 국내외 미팅을 주관한바 있습니다. 또한, Patent Resources Group (PRG) 의 교수진으로 재직했습니다.


Timothy J. Maier

Timothy Maier 변호사는 미국 특허청에 등록된 특허 변호사로서 지적재산권 전반에 대한 업무를 수행하고 있습니다.

주 업무분야는 특허 및 상표권 출원, 소송, 미국 및 국제적 기술 현황 및 시장 상황을 고려한 특허 및 상표권 포트폴리오 개발 및 관리 전략 수립, 특허 적격성, 유효성, 침해 조사(infringement, freedom to operate) 우회 설계 관련 상담 및 의견서 작성, 특허 로드맵 분석 및 작성, due diligence 의견서 작성 등이 있습니다.

Timothy Maier 변호사는 전자, 전기 기계, 기계 및 공학 일반, 무선 통신, 소프트웨어 및 임베디드 시스템, 금융 시스템을 포함한 다양한 기술 분야에 대한 전문성을 가지고 있습니다.

Maier & Maier 를 설립하기 전 Timothy Maier 변호사는 Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.에서 근무 했습니다.

Timothy Maier 변호사는 Vanderbilt 대학교에서 이학사(Bachelor of Science), George Mason 공대에서 통신공학 석사 자격을 취득했습니다. George Mason 로스쿨에서 JD를 취득했으며, 로스쿨 재학 중에 지적재산권법을 중점적으로 연구한바 있습니다.

또한, Timothy Maier 변호사는 Virginia 주 소속 변호사이며, 미국 특허청, Virginia 대법원(Supreme Court of Virginia), Virginia 동부 연방 지역 법원(Eastern District Court of Virginia), 연방 순회법원(Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit) 에서 법률업무를 수행할 수 있습니다.

Timothy Maier 변호사는 Virginia State Bar (VSB), American Bar Association (ABA Patents, Trademarks and Copyright Divisions), Licensing Executives Society (LES), Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI, published articles) and American Intellectual Property Association(AIPLA )의 회원이며, AIPLA에선 2년 임기의 committee 멤버로 활동한 바 있습니다.

현재, Patent Resources Group (PRG) 의 교수진으로 봉사하고 있으며, 미국 뿐만 아니라 다양한 국가에서 지적재산권 법 강의를 하고 있습니다. 특히 Timothy Maier 변호사의 한국, 일본 및 중국을 포함한 아시아 국가의 특허 보호에 관한 강의는 유명합니다. 또한, 지적재산권 법에 관한 정보를 공유하기 위한 블로그 www.postgrant.com의 저자이기도 합니다.