Baker Donelson has grown its Intellectual Property Group with the addition of two seasoned Intellectual Property (IP) attorneys: Rick Gregory, who joins as of counsel in the Houston office, and David Franklin Sawrie Ph.D., who joins as of counsel in the Nashville office.
"Rick and David bring extensive experience that further strengthens Baker Donelson's ability to serve clients in the dynamic and evolving field of intellectual property law," said Adam S. Baldridge, chair of the Firm's Intellectual Property Group. "They are both highly regarded legal professionals who offer our clients a deep understanding of issues essential to the effective enforcement and protection of intellectual property rights. We are thrilled to welcome them to our team."
For nearly three decades, Mr. Gregory has provided counsel to high technology and emerging growth companies in Silicon Valley and across the country in all aspects of intellectual property portfolio strategy, development, analysis, and management. He has served as counsel on a range of matters, including patent portfolio strategy development, management, and enforcement strategy; in-house IP counsel; post-grant patent proceedings; and patent and trademark preparation and prosecution. He has experience preparing non-infringement, invalidity, design-around, and freedom-to-operate analyses and opinions, and evaluating claims of patent infringement both offensively and defensively.
Mr. Gregory's practice also includes performing due diligence and preparing opinions supporting initial public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, financing, and joint ventures; negotiating and drafting licenses, joint development agreements, and settlement agreements; and participating in litigation proceedings. A graduate of the University of Florida College of Law, he also holds master's degrees in electrical engineering and systems management.
Dr. Sawrie practices patent law in the electrical arts, mathematics, and medical devices. Dr. Sawrie uses this knowledge to help clients design and execute patent portfolio strategy and management. He handles all aspects of patent procurement from invention disclosure meetings and claim drafting through advanced stages of prosecution. He is experienced in managing prosecution of multiple portfolios comprising substantial U.S. and international assets; provides patent counsel and strategy in post-grant proceedings; delivers analytical support in complex patent litigation matters; conducts intellectual property diligence; performs infringement analysis; and drafts licensing and joint venture agreements.
Dr. Sawrie handles IP issues in a broad range of technologies such as electrical circuits, processors, embedded systems, digital signal processing, artificial intelligence/machine learning, augmented and virtual reality devices and software applications, mobile devices, memory management, database management, additive manufacturing, operating systems (including gesture based), wireless networks, cellular communications, encryption, security systems, fraud analytics, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solutions, global positioning systems, and medical devices.
Dr. Sawrie received his B.A. from the University of Virginia, his M.A. from Stanford University, his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, and his Ph.D. and B.S.E.E. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During his doctoral training, he worked as a scientist in the area of health care outcomes research, conducting statistical analyses and providing data management support in clinical trials ranging from small sample studies to a large multicenter phase III clinical trial. Dr. Sawrie also holds a master's degree in German Studies from Stanford University.