OWEN - Key Persons
Gregory N. Owen is a principal of the firm. He specializes in the areas of trademark, copyright, and unfair competition law, including business counseling, licensing and litigation. Mr. Owen's practice includes development and maintenance of domestic and international trademark portfolios; client counseling and education concerning the selection, clearance, use, registration and protection of trademarks, service marks, trade dress, designs, copyrights and related intellectual property; domestic and international intellectual property policing and enforcement; preparation and negotiation of trademark and copyright license agreements and assignments, and trademark co-existence agreements; intellectual property due diligence; preliminary and comprehensive trademark availability clearance searching, including large volume preliminary screening searches for branding companies; preparation, filing, and prosecution of domestic and international trademark, service mark, trade dress, and design applications; counseling and litigation concerning issues pertaining to unfair competition, false advertising, rights of publicity, trade secrets, and related fields; and domain name acquisition, transfer, registration, enforcement, and litigation.
Mr. Owen earned a BA in history from University of California, Davis and his JD from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1985. Mr. Owen was admitted to the California Bar in 1986 and is admitted to practice before all state and federal trial and appellate courts in California, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Owen is a member of the Northern District of California Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, serving as President of the Chapter in 2012, member of Chapter Board of Directors since 2010, and Chapter Executive Committee since 1996. Mr. Owen also a member of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association and served as president and member of the Board of Directors, is a member of the International Trademark Association, Intellectual Property Law Sections of the State Bar of California and Bar Association of San Francisco, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Golden Gate University Intellectual Property Law Center.
Mr. Owen assists clients in a wide range of industries, including advertising, apparel, branding services, consumer goods, education, financial services, food, beverages and agriculture, health and life sciences, insurance services, retail services, technology and software, and wine and alcoholic beverages. Mr. Owen has been recognized repeatedly by Law & Politics Media Inc. as a Northern California "Super Lawyer" in intellectual property law. Mr. Owen lectures on intellectual property topics relating primarily to trademark clearance, prosecution and litigation.
Outside the law, Mr. Owen has been active in various water sports, including white water rafting, Trans-Pacific and Coastal yacht deliveries, racing his one design Millimeter sailboat Kermit, ODOM R/C scale sailboat Lighntnin', and spending time and entertaining guests and clients aboard Pat Pending, the 1929 classic power boat that has been in the Owen family since 1940. Mr. Owen has two grown sons and now enjoys spending time with his wife improving their "empty nest."
Job Titles:
- Member of the State Bar of California Intellectual Property Section
Mr. Townsend is a member of the State Bar of California Intellectual Property Section, the Marin County Bar Association, the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association and the Authors' Guild. Like the Owens, he continues a time-honored commitment to the law; Mr. Townsend is a fourth generation intellectual property specialist in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Linda Joy Kattwinkel is a visual artist as well as an attorney. She practices primarily copyright, trademark, and arts law. Ms. Kattwinkel received her arts training at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she graduated cum laude in 1975 with a B.F.A. in communication arts. Thereafter she worked for thirteen years as a graphic artist in editorial, corporate and advertising design and typography. She has designed many corporate and product logos, and has produced illustrations for educational books and other publications. Today she paints in plein air and at her studio in San Francisco, where she sometimes participates in Open Studios. Her artwork has been shown in more than thirty-five museum and gallery exhibitions. Some of Linda Joy's more recent artwork can be seen here.
Ms. Kattwinkel received her law degree cum laude from Hastings College of the Law in 1991. At Hastings, she co-founded, edited, and designed the logo for the Hastings Women's Law Journal. Ms. Kattwinkel published an article and artwork in the journal, On Motherhood and Working, 3 Hastings Women's LJ1 (1992). During law school Ms. Kattwinkel externed with the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California. Ms. Kattwinkel was admitted to the California Bar in 1992. Before joining Owen, Wickersham & Erickson, Ms. Kattwinkel served as a long-term judicial clerk to the Honorable Claudia Wilken, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California.
Ms. Kattwinkel received her alternate dispute resolution training from the Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services of California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA), the Center for Understanding in Conflict, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She has been mediating and arbitrating intellectual property disputes since 1987, and currently serves on the ADR panels of CLA and the Northern District.
Ms. Kattwinkel is the author of Legalities, an online column on legal issues for artists and designers hosted by AIGA|SF and various published articles, e.g., for STEP magazine and AIGA. She is a co-author of the AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services. She currently serves as the Chair of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., Northern California Chapter, and is also a member of the GAG Advocacy Committee. She speaks frequently to artists and lawyers, and provides training to mediators regarding artists' issues.
Job Titles:
- Consultant With Owen Wickersham
Melville Owen is a consultant with Owen Wickersham & Erickson. He is no longer a practicing attorney, but continues to mentor the firm's personnel and consult on matters of client business strategy.