Kevin Christopher
Founder | Patent Attorney | Business Leader
Kevin Christopher is the founder and principal of Rockridge Venture Law®, Tennessee’s only B Corp Best For The World law firm. Kevin is a registered patent attorney, entrepreneur, county and state commissioner, National Institutes of Health (NIH) RadX faculty member, and National Science Foundation (NSF) program evaluator. He is a Leadership Lawyer and Leadership Tennessee alumnus, and board member to several environmental and social impact nonprofits. Kevin has been recognized as a SuperLawyer by Thomson Reuters and Top Business Leader by Conscious Company Magazine.
Attorney Kevin Christopher is a corporate attorney, patent attorney, and trademark attorney. Specifically, his practice areas include: patent and trademark prosecution, licensing and litigation; corporate law, with an emphasis on benefit corporations, socially responsible businesses and high-growth emergent companies; government contracts, with an emphasis on innovation funding; corporate and investor financing; and, technology commercialization. In addition to his corporate practice Kevin helps many entrepreneurs as program advisor with AgLaunch, Bethesda Green Hub, CoLab, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, and Singularity University Ventures.
Prior to founding RVL®, Attorney Kevin Christopher led bioscience and biotech development activities with top secret security clearance at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. His copyright and patent licensing portfolio included anti-infectives, drug delivery systems, neural interface devices, sequencing software, and other state of the art technologies. Kevin’s commercialization of a microbiome analysis chip resulted in in a Federal Licensing Consortium deal of the year award. Kevin managed a 40+ patent neural interface portfolio that was licensed as the groundbreaking Argus II artificial retina, and additionally directed to multi-region neuron mapping and as a tool for the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
- Intellectual Property
- Business Law
- Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Finance, Business Formation, Business Litigation, Franchising, Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnership & Shareholder Disputes
- Trademarks
- Trademark Litigation, Trademark Registration
- Patents
- Patent Appeals, Patent Litigation, Patent Prosecution
- Energy, Oil & Gas Law
- Utilities
- Communications & Internet Law
- Internet Law, Media & Advertising, Telecommunications Law
- Gov & Administrative Law
- Administrative Law, Election Law, Government Contracts, Government Finance, Legislative & Government Affairs
- Appeals & Appellate
- Civil Appeals, Federal Appeals
- Biotech
- Music Law
- Art Law
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Free Consultation
I offer a free, scheduled assessment of how I can help you. - Credit Cards Accepted
- District of Columbia
- District of Columbia Bar
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- Patent and Trademark Office
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- Tennessee
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- English: Spoken, Written
- Principal
- Rockridge Venture Law
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- Rockridge Venture Law® was launched in 2017 to become the preeminent intellectual property and technology firm across the Appalachian Innovation Corridor. We now have offices in Chattanooga, Durham, and Nashville, and represent clients and interests globally. Our services include all aspects of intellectual property, litigation, M&A, privacy, technology transactions, and ventures. In 2018 and 2019, we were recognized as B Corp Best for the World for our commitment to triple bottom line business practices. Our pioneering environmental and social impact programs attract top-notch legal talent and assure our clients of missional alignment with their corporate values. Rockridge uniquely addresses two modern profit drivers: innovation (uptake and development), and corporate social responsibility. We're Building Today's Company for Tomorrow's Economy® by leading clients through the dizzying array of information controls, by helping them to develop and monetize proprietary assets, and by enabling their impactful products, programs, and principles.
- Industrial Partnerships Office
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab
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- Led business development and strategic partnership activities within Industrial Partnerships Office for bioscience and biotech programs involving big data, biosecurity, drug discovery, human-on-a-chip, microbiome, microfluidics, neural interface, synthetic biology, and other specialized research and development. Created master agreements and organizational plans for life science consortia. Crafted and optimized commercialization strategies for over 400 technologies including: microelectrode array for neural recording and stimulation; nanolipoproteins for vaccine development and drug delivery; pharmaceuticals, including biologics and small molecules; and diagnostics. Negotiated license agreements, establishing valuation metrics based upon commercialization plans, comparables, market data, and intellectual property attributes. Established, negotiated, and finalized cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs), inter-institutional agreements (IIAs), inter-agency agreements (IAAs), and intellectual property management plans.
- Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances
- University of California, Berkeley
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- Judicial Extern
- Chambers of Judge Charles R. Breyer
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- Law Clerk
- U.S. Attorney's Office, Civil Division, San Francisco
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- University of California - Davis
- other | Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group
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- University of California - Berkeley
- other | Energy, Law
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- Activities: Tutor, Governor Jennifer Granholm, Renewable Energy Law & Policy; Computer Law, Berkeley School of Law; Research Member, Berkeley Rural Energy Group / Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab
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- University of San Francisco School of Law
- J.D. (2010)
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- Honors: Arthur Zief, Jr., Scholar
- Activities: Intellectual Property Law Bulletin, Survey Editor; Student Bar Association, 2L Representative; Advanced Advocacy Program, National Moot Court Competition; Public Interest Law Foundation grantee & Pro Bono Publico recipient for community service
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- University of California Hastings College of the Law
- Visiting Student
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- Honors: Outstanding Scholarship Award, Law and Bioscience (LAB) Project
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- Lipscomb University
- Honors: Presenter, Tennessee Honors Conference, "Technology and God: Effects of Invention upon Spiritual Communication."
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- Class of 2020
- Leadership Tennessee
- Mid-South Rising Star
- Super Lawyers
- Business Leader of the Year
- Conscious Company Magazine
- Attorney for Justice
- Tennessee Bar Association
- Pro Bono Certificate
- Patent and Trademark Office
- State Bar of Tennessee
- Member
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- Tennessee Bar Association Intellectual Property Section
- Member, Executive Council
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- Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law
- Member, Class of 2017
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- Biz Foundry
- Advisory Board Member
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- Tennessee Bar Association Legal Assistance Volunteer Patent Attorneys (LAVPA)
- Advisory Board Member
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- Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
- Member, Tech Transfer Committee
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- Tennessee Energy Mentors Network
- Entrepreneur in Residence
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- The Hip Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World
- Paul Herman; Wiley
- Reclaiming our Technological Posterity at the Intersection of Intellectual Property and Taxation: Uncovering how Patent Pools are Key to Recapturing the Benefits of Charitable IP Contributions
- American University Intellectual Property Brief
- Freeing the Grid: Best Practices in State Net Metering and Interconnection Procedures
- Interstate Renewable Energy Council
- Startups and Venture Capital, Industry Contract Officers Network Annual Meeting, Caltech University
- Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing, University of California Office of Intellectual Property Managers Meeting
- Commercialization Panel, UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Symposium, Nashville, TN
- UC Berkeley
- http://www.2014entrepreneurshipsymposium.com/speakers
- Country Music Industry Fights Website Allegedly Selling Bootlegged Merchandise, Fox News Channel 17, Nashville, TN
- http://fox17.com/news/local/country-music-industry-fighting-website-allegedly-selling-bootleg-merchandise
- Panel: Entrepreneurship in Advanced Energy, Opportunities in Energy, Knoxville, Tennessee
- Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council
- http://www.tnadvancedenergy.com/event/opportunities-in-energy-annual-membership-meeting/
- Certified Licensing Professional
- Licensing Executive Society
- Blog
- Rockridge Venture Law
What to Know About Branding, Copyrights, Trademarks, and Privacy in Digitizing Your Business
E-Commerce Law: What to Know about Branding, Copyrights, Trademarks and Privacy in Digitizing Your Business
Building Today's Company for Tomorrow's Economy
Rockridge Venture Law® was launched in 2017 to become the preeminent intellectual property and technology firm across the Appalachian Innovation Corridor. We now have offices in Chattanooga, Durham, and Nashville,...
- Q. Can my logo that is a registered trademark change the background color while still keeping its tradmark
- A: See our article here: https://rockridgelaw.com/2018/11/08/if-you-mess-with-your-trademarked-logo-say-in-a-rebrand-will-you-lose-your-trademark-rights/.
- Q. Can you put a lean on mineral rights in Tennessee? If so, what are the implications, procedures, and requirements?
- A: There's no straightforward answer without more of the story. For instance, a recent Tennessee case involved a dispute as to whether sandstone qualified as a mineral. Also, in order to qualify you would likely need to have provided some sort of services in connection with the mineral in order to attach to proceeds from its exploitation.
- Q. Trademark ownership... implied ownership???
- A: Part of this depends upon how they gave you permission. Was it a written permission to use?
