Patent Agent - Specializes In Start-Ups and Sole Inventors

Graduated from Law School

Graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, specializing in IP Law

Patent Attorney

Work for two international law firms, handling patent prosecution and litigation.

Notable clients included: JBL, Infinity, Harman International, and Avery Dennison

First Start-Up: CLO Systems

Work for two international law firms, handling patent prosecution and litigation.

Notable clients included: JBL, Infinity, Harman International, and Avery Dennison

Exclusive License Agreement

Sanus dominated the wall mount market, while CLO captured market share in motorized wall mounts.

Best Buy, Sanus’ top customer, was prepared to introduce the X-Arm in stores; however, Sanus approached us to negotiate an exclusive license, which we secured on favorable terms.

A strong patent portfolio was a key factor in achieving this successful outcome.

Second Start-Up: Touch Coffee

I love coffee, but in 2012, I couldn’t get a strong cup of coffee in the morning, especially from a Keurig. After studying its system, I found that the K-Cup didn’t contain enough coffee to brew a full 8 oz cup.

Developed a new single-serve coffee system with two pod sizes: one similar to the K-Cup and another extra-large cup that holds 30% more coffee.

Built a strong patent portfolio around this new coffee system.

Patent Litigation with Keurig

In 2014, Keurig introduced the Vue Brewer, designed to brew both K-Cups and the larger Vue Cups.

After conducting a patent infringement analysis, we concluded that Keurig was infringing our four patents.

Raised over $1.0 million to fund the litigation by leveraging the patent portfolio.

We filed a Preliminary Injunction against Keurig, asserting infringement of our four patents.

Inter Pates Review Petition

Keurig responded by filing an Inter Partes Review (IPR) petition with the U.S. Patent Office, where a panel of three patent judges evaluated whether the patents are valid or not.

IPR is often decisive, as the prevailing party in the review typically gains the upper hand in litigation.

We prevailed on every issue, backed by our strong four patents, which proved pivotal in securing a multi-million-dollar settlement.

Still, when Keurig challenged the patents I had written, it became a valuable learning experience that enabled me to draft even stronger patents.

Third Start-Up: DivergentIP (dba Bruvi)

Our mission is to deliver the best-tasting coffee with an elegant design.

Reviewed over 1,000 patents, narrowed to 20–30 key references, and prepared a comprehensive clearance analysis to ensure freedom to operate.

Keurig and Nespresso use litigation to block their competitors; our well-crafted clearance letter was pivotal in securing over $17M in funding.

Established a strong portfolio of 12 issued patents to protect our technologies.

R&D in China

I regularly traveled to China to develop our products, but once Covid-19 hit, the development process became extremely challenging.

I was fortunate to obtain a visa, and instead of my usual 1-month stay, I remained in China for 1.5 years to complete development and oversee production of the coffee and espresso pods, the pod packaging machine, and the brewer.

During this time, I gained firsthand insight into how Chinese business people operate and how intellectual property is regarded in China.

Lunch of Bruvi

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 in early 2022, we successfully launched Bruvi.

We delivered on our promise of providing the best-tasting coffee compared to Keurig and Nespresso. See Bruvi.com.

Running a startup has been rewarding, though not without challenges such as the U.S.–China tariff, which we hope will be resolved soon.