The Latest From Kinney and Lange

New Shareholders Announced

Kinney & Lange is pleased to announce three new shareholders: Ian MacKinnon, Nicholas Peterka, and Andrew Swanson. Ian MacKinnon has extensive experience in IP portfolio management. He has assisted clients with monetizing their IP portfolios through licensing and sales activities. Ian has also participated in enforcement activities and providing IP litigation support. Nick Peterka’s practice has been primarily in patent preparation and prosecution, as well as clearance activities. Such clearance activities include performing offensive activities, such as patentability searches and analyses as well as defensive activities, such as freedom-to-operate searches and analyses.  Nick also has extensive experience in Trademark prosecution...

Kinney & Lange, P.A. welcomes Kumayl Lakha as our newest Associate

Kumayl received his Juris Doctor from the University of St. Thomas School of Law, magna cum laude. Kumayl holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. While completing his undergraduate degree, Kumayl participated in a variety of internships and volunteer positions including a software development summer internship, computer engineering summer internships, and a research assistant volunteer position for nanoparticle testing. Before attending law school, Kumayl worked as a full-time software engineer with a focus on firmware tools development and firmware testing in medical devices. 

Kinney & Lange would like to introduce our 2021 summer interns. Our 2021 class of interns joined us on June 1st

By June 18, 2021

Kumayl Lakha is a returning intern, having served as a Kinney intern last year. Kumayl is currently a law student at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and is expected to graduate in June 2022. Kumayl has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He previously worked as a software support intern at Squigl and as a software engineer at Medtronic. During his undergrad years, Kumayl also worked as a bioheat lab assistant at the U of M where he tested the properties of different nanoparticles on artery heating. Ryan Meger is currently...

Kinney & Lange, P.A. welcomes Dana Brown and Alexander Walker as our newest Associates

By February 17, 2021

Dana holds a BS degree in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She attended law school at Washington University in St. Louis.  Dana focuses her practice on patent prosecution, including drafting and prosecuting patent applications, providing recommendations on international patent application strategy, and conducting patentability and freedom-to-operate studies.  In her free time, Dana enjoys hiking and visiting Minnesota’s state parks. Alexander holds a BS degree in biochemistry and a PhD in molecular biosciences from Washington State University.  Alexander attended law school at the University of Minnesota.  Alexander focuses his practice on patent law, including drafting and prosecuting patent applications,...

K&L Announces New Shareholders

By February 3, 2021

Kinney & Lange is happy to announce two new shareholders – Jessica Thomas and Michael Parish. Jessica and Michael join David Fairbairn, Alan Koenck, Erik Wright, George Romanik, John Leighton, Rick Nelson, and Boyd Black as shareholders. With the addition of Jessica and Michael, with their educational degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Kinney & Lange has strengthened our suite of technical arenas in which we have expertise. We are very excited to have these two attorneys join us, not only because they have demonstrated such talent and ability, but also because both of these young attorneys are fine...

George Romanik Joins Kinney & Lange

Kinney & Lange, P.A. is pleased to announce that George J. Romanik has joined the firm as a shareholder, team leader, and member of the leadership group. George holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) and a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law (Hartford, CT). Before joining Kinney & Lange, George was Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property at Chemtura Corporation (now LANXESS Solutions US) where he led the in-house intellectual property team in providing a full range of IP services, including IP protection (patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights), IP transactions (licensing and other...

A Day of Volunteering

By June 13, 2017

The Kinney & Lange team helped pack 6,732 pounds of food to be distributed by Second Harvest Heartland – a food bank working to solve the problem of hunger in our region .

Cooperative Patent Classification Implementation and Best Practices

By August 1, 2016 ,

The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a harmonization of the U.S. and European existing patent classification systems, the European Classification System (ECLA) and the U.S. Patent Classification (USPC). The change to the CPC was initiated through a joint partnership between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). The CPC is the result of the USPTO’s effort to provide a modern classification system that is internationally compatible; and a result of the EPO’s effort to eliminate the reclassification of U.S. patent documents and ensure compliance with International Patent Classification (IPC), administered by the World...

Kinney & Lange Attorneys Recognized by Super Lawyers in 2016

Kinney & Lange congratulates its 2016 Super Lawyer David R. Fairbairn and Rising Star Austen Zuege. Super Lawyers surveyed Minnesota attorneys regarding those members of the Minnesota State Bar whom they considered to be Super Lawyers. The Super Lawyers Selection Committee evaluated the nominations received and made the final selections. No more than five percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected as a Super Lawyer and no more than 2.5 percent are selected as a Rising Star. This is Dave’s fourteenth consecutive year of being named a Super Lawyer and Austen’s fourth consecutive year on the list...

Federalization of Trade Secret Law

By Thea E. Reilkoff The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) was signed into law by President Obama on May 11, 2016. The DTSA creates a private civil cause of action in federal court for misappropriation of a trade secret “related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce.” The DTSA amends the existing Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA), which criminalizes trade secret theft, and makes trade secrets a national priority, affording a level of protection already provided for patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Prior to enactment of the DTSA, plaintiffs...