Fred leads Harris Sliwoski’s intellectual property practice and is the coordinator of the firm’s international team. Much of Fred’s practice consists of helping cannabis businesses protect their brands. He also works with entrepreneurs and companies entering the Web3 space, a new frontier for IP law. Prior to joining Harris Sliwoski, Fred worked overseas for more than a decade, in both government and private sector roles. Fred is a regular contributor to the award-winning China Law Blog and Canna Law Blog.
Fred began his career overseas as a U.S. consular officer in Guangzhou, China, where he advocated for fairer treatment of American companies and citizens in China and for stronger intellectual property rights enforcement. After entering the private sector, Fred worked at a Shanghai law firm as a foreign legal advisor and later joined one of the oldest American law firms in China, helping foreign companies navigate the Chinese legal environment. He also led the legal team at a Hong Kong-based brand protection consultancy, spending most of his time out in the field, protecting clients against counterfeiters and fraudsters in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
In addition to his IP work, as a native Spanish speaker, Fred works closely with different Harris Sliwoski teams on Latin America and Spain matters. Fred also provides advice to cannabis industry participants and other businesses on import and export transactions.
Fred is an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona—and would be even in the absence of Catalan forebears who immigrated to Puerto Rico in the mid-1800s.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve written more than once (and here) that Mexico is fast-increasing in importance as a manufacturing hub, especially for businesses targeting the U.S. market. To recap, as global companies seek to diversify their supply chains, Mexico offers proximity to U.S. markets, modern infrastructure, access to ports for global distribution
Trademarks are among the most important assets of any company. Indeed, if it weren’t for trademarks, customers would be unlikely to even find a company’s products. Naturally, then, most U.S. companies want to protect these essential and valuable assets to the greatest extent possible and therefore make sure that they are registered with the United
Pursuant to the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established expungement and reexamination proceedings for cancellation of a registration. These proceedings allow a third party to request the cancellation of a trademark registration, if the mark was never used in commerce, or if it was not used prior
As more U.S. companies and individuals seek to sell their goods and services in foreign markets, it is important they obtain trademark protection in these markets. One way to minimize the cost of obtaining trademark protection abroad is to make use of the Madrid System. With the UAE‘s accession to the Madrid Protocol (which together
Our team handles trademark work around the world for our clients, but the jurisdictions with which we work the most are the United States, European Union, and China. While there are considerable similarities among these three jurisdictions when it comes to trademark law, in this post we look at how the U.S., E.U., and China
A conversation with a client this week reminded me that there many different flavors of intellectual property (IP), and that many companies should look carefully at integrating intellectual property rights (IPR) protection processes into all of their interactions with clients and especially prospective clients. Imagine a company that is well-regarded in its field, contacted by
Gender-Neutral Passports Non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming Americans can now obtain gender-neutral passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X gender marker. Previously, the State Department had announced that applicants would be able to self-select their gender “as ‘M’ or ‘F,'” irrespective of the gender specified in other identity documents, and without
It is surprising to those of us who have spent meaningful time in the country, but Spain is often overlooked as a business destination. Part of that has to do with the country’s ongoing problem with unemployment, which clouds outsider perceptions. Recent turmoil in Catalonia has not helped, with the optics at times making Barcelona seem like a
