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Attorneys
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Attorney Profile
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John R. Harris
Partner
Phone: 404.504.7720
Fax: 404.365.9532
Email: jharris@mmmlaw.com
John R. Harris is a senior partner in the Technology/Intellectual Property Practice and a registered patent attorney. For the past 30 years, Mr. Harris has advised clients in the electronics, computer, and Internet industries on intellectual property matters. A former computer system design engineer at Harris Corporation, Mr. Harris designed electronic printing and word processing systems.
Mr. Harris has extensive experience counseling clients, preparing and prosecuting patent applications, rendering opinions, and negotiating transactions involving various technologies such as electronic commerce systems, financial services business models and payment systems, telecommunication technologies, video signal processing, data compression, computer architecture, visual systems for flight simulation and video gaming, distributed database systems, and computer software interface technology.
Mr. Harris contributed to early publications on Internet law. He also helped put together and was co-chair of the first computer law legal education program in the Southeast, the Southeastern Computer Law Institute held at Georgia Tech in 1984 and 1985.
Recent Experience
Trademark:
Currently represent Georgia-based agricultural testing laboratory in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in connection with certification marks relating to certification of taste properties of onions.
Successfully represented same Georgia-based agricultural testing laboratory in various challenges brought by certain Vidalia onion growers in Georgia Dept. of Agriculture, state, and federal court relating to use of the certification marks for onion taste properties, preserving the client’s rights to register and use the marks in its certification and testing services.
Successfully represented real estate developer in defending a challenge to its “house design” logo in a trademark opposition proceeding, through TTAB trial and argument, decision reported at Red Carpet Corp. v. Johnstown American Enterprises Inc., 7 USPQ2d 1404 (TTAB 1988) (stylized house design for “management of real estate properties for others” held not likely to be confused with stylized house design for real estate brokerage services).
Represented national franchise owner of mall-based cookie stores for several years in trademark acquisition and portfolio maintenance until acquisition by another cookie company, for various types of products and marketing campaigns, including work with primary franchise counsel on various franchise agreement issues, and defending against various assertions by third parties of trademark rights.
Patent:
Prepared, filed, and currently prosecuting complex family of patents for a mobile financial services company relating to mobile financial payment systems and processes (using cellphones for billpay and related financial transactions), starting with company at inception in 2005 and invention/technology identification, and assist in sale of company to Qualcomm, Inc. in 2007 for $220+ million.
Prepared, filed, and currently prosecuting family of patents relating to renewable resource processing equipment and manufacturing processes that involve breaking down small trees and similar long strand fiber sources into “scrimber” and forming mats of scrimber into engineered lumber products.
Prepared, filed, and currently prosecuting complex family of patents for venture-capital funded recently-graduated ATDC financial auditing and monitoring company, relating to electronic enterprise transaction compliance monitoring systems and processes for use by auditors and fraud detection / case management personnel for enterprises with heterogeneous and distributed ERP systems such as accounting, CRM, email, document management etc.
Working with MMM IP litigators headed by David Rabin, successfully defended $1.2+ billion privately held diversified building products and materials company from charge of patent infringement, by winning summary judgment motion and obtaining favorable ruling on appeal from Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit, case reported at L.B. Plastics, Inc. v. Amerimax Home Products, Inc., 431 F.Supp.2d 578 (W.D.N.C. 2006), affirmed, L.B. Plastics, Inc. v. Amerimax Home Products, Inc., 499 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
Prepared, filed, prosecuted, and maintained family of 100+ patent applications directed to various aspects of online payment systems, credit card transaction processing, credit card terminals, check processing equipment, encryption based authentication, transaction anonymizing processes, and other financial transaction processing systems, for publicly held $10 billion Fortune 200 company from 1991 until company taken private in late 2007. Work included various opinions and infringement avoidance counseling, invention “mining,” and other related IP work.
Prepared, filed, prosecuted and maintained family of patents relating to downspout water diversion products and other water diversion products of, through sale of company for $40+ million (circa 1995-2008).
Advised numerous clients on both buy-side and sell-side of mergers or acquisitions as to IP issues and due diligence, for technologies and products as varied as heavy agricultural equipment, Internet content distribution systems, scanning electronic microscopes, Internet protocol filtering, identity verification using a central biometric authority, and others.
Bar Admissions
State Bar of Georgia,
Admitted 1979
Education
Georgia Institute of Technology, B.E.E., cum laude, 1973
Emory University, M.B.A., 1979
Emory University, J.D., 1979
Tau Beta Pi
Eta Kappa Nu
Beta Gamma Sigma
Phi Delta Phi
Honors and Affiliations
Atlanta and American Bar Associations (Member, Science & Technology; Patent, Intellectual Property
Sections)
State Bar of Georgia (Member and Chairman, Intellectual Property Section, 1990-91; Member, Computer Law Section)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Computer Law Association
Co-Chairman, Georgia Institute of Technology Southeastern Computer Law Institute, 1984 and 1985
Board Member, Goizueta Alumni Association
Board Member, Association of Emory Alumni Board of Governors
Recent Speaking Engagements
“Trademark Fundamentals: Selection and Protection of Valuable Marks,” Morris, Manning & Martin Webinar, December 2, 2009
“The Impact of the In re Bilski Case on Computer Software and Business Method Patents,” Morris, Manning & Martin Webinar, December 10, 2008
Publications
Patent Reform 2009: Is the Third Time the Charm? Morris, Manning & Martin’s IP NewsFlash, May 2009
“Medical Method Held Not Patentable Recent Appeals Decision finds Medical Procedure is not Patentable Subject Matter,
Citing In re Bilski,” Morris, Manning & Martin’s IP NewsFlash, January 2009
"New Appeals Decision Will Affect Computer and Process Patents: Case Summary of In re Bilski Decision: Patentable Processes Must Involve Physical Transformation or Be Tied to a Particular Machine," Morris, Manning & Martin’s IP NewsFlash, October 2008
“Protecting Intellectual Property: Insights into the Legal Process,” Entrepreneurs and Innovation: Creating Value with Emerging Technologies, October 2008
Patent Reform 2007 - A Needed Fix or a Threat to American Innovation?, December 2007
New USPTO Rules Will Significantly Affect Patent Strategy, September 2007
Supreme Court Makes It Harder To Obtain Valid Patents, May 2007
Willful Patent
Infringement and Treble Damages: The Reason for Legal Opinions, April 2004
Latest Press Releases
01/29/2009 - MMM’s John Harris Speaks at Entrepreneurs and Innovation Summit
11/7/2008 - Patent Decision Means Tough Times for Many Tech Companies, Attorney Says
10/30/2008 - Basics, Fine Points of Intellectual Property Among Topics in New Book
4/24/2008 - New Patent Rules Struck Down - Ruling is Good News for Small Tech Companies & Universities, MMM Lawyers Say
Service Areas
Corporate & Commercial Litigation
Healthcare
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Litigation
Technology
Technology Litigation
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Copyright © 2010 Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP. All rights reserved.
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