Author: WSI Genesis

Vernon Maine founded the practice in 1993. He is licensed in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and before the United States Patent Office. He describes his job this way:

“My professional function is really that of a team leader, working for the client, bringing together the creator of the IP asset for his or her knowledge of the subject matter, the client’s IP manager representing the client’s business goals and interests, myself and my associates representing the legal knowledge and skills required for identifying, securing and exploiting rights and monetary opportunities in the IP, and our expert paralegal staff to manage the myriad of details and legal deadlines that must be tracked and attended to in order to make it all work.”

Attorney Maine earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lowell Technological Institute, now University of Massachusetts, and his J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord N.H. now University of New Hampshire School of Law. He is a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran, a licensed airplane and helicopter pilot, and an amateur radio operator. He has more than 15 years of pre-law engineering and marketing experience in large and small technology companies, dealing in U.S. and foreign markets. His background gives him a unique perspective and ability to appreciate and provide legal and practical guidance in support of client goals and objectives.

Vern also provides mentoring and assistance to other members of the firm in support of their work. When he is in the office, and not out flying, fishing, or operating his ham radio, Vern can be reached at 603-886-6100.

His resume is available here.

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Walter joined our firm as Of Counsel in 2019. For the past twenty four years Mr. Dawson has served as a Patent and Trademark Attorney for Pearson & Pearson, where he represented various clients with intellectual property matters in electrical, mechanical, computer and many other technology areas. Previous to that, he was a member of the design team that developed the Apollo Spacecraft Guidance Computers and the Trident Missile Guidance System Computers at Raytheon Company and he was a principal engineer and patent attorney for Raytheon Company. Mr. Dawson also specializes in Patent and Trademark infringement for enforcement of patents and trademarks.

Mr. Dawson is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Dawson’s trial work also extends to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, United States Claims Court, United States District Court for the First Circuit, United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire and state courts in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

He is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School (J.D. 1976), Northeastern University (MSEE, 1965) and Lowell Technological Institute (BSEE- Now University of Massachusetts – Lowell, 1959). He was president of the Boston Patent Law Association in 1999. He is a current member of the Greater Lowell Bar Association, New Hampshire Bar Association, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. As well as, a current Board Member of the Independent University Alumni Association of Lowell and the UMASS Lowell Industry Advisory Board for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

He resides with his wife Mary in both Nashua and Laconia, New Hampshire.

Walter can be reached by phone at 603-886-6100, x 7013.

Daniel Long joined our firm as Of Counsel in 2015. For the past thirteen years before joining our firm he was the Senior Intellectual Property Counsel for BAE Systems Electronic Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire where he managed that company’s intellectual property affairs in a high technology, complex Government contracting environment. Technical areas in which he worked included infrared and radio frequency aircraft self-protection systems, surveillance and intelligence systems, infrared imaging systems, radiation hardened semiconductors, and hybrid electric drive vehicles. During each of his last eleven years at BAE, Dan was successful in having the company named to the list of the 300 Leading Patenting Organizations which published annually by the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

At BAE Dan also initiated an effort to monetize some of the company’s patent portfolio. This effort led to sales (with royalty free licenses back) and licensing agreements.

At BAE Dan was also charged, along with outside counsel, with defending a patent infringement suit brought against the company by a non-practicing entity. The company’s product which was alleged to have infringed the patent at issue was an integral part of a system which was being proposed to the U.S. Army in an attempt to win a major contract. The infringement suit put a cloud over this proposal; however, Dan was successful in finding a prior art patent and in petitioning for an Inter Partes Review in the Patent Office which invalidated the non-practicing entity’s patent. Not only was the decision obtained in enough time to clear up the infringement issue for the Army, but the company also saved millions of dollars by not having to defend the infringement suit in court.

Prior to his time at BAE Systems, Dan also held responsible intellectual property positions at FCI Electronics, Inc. and PPG Industries, Inc. and at the Pittsburgh intellectual property litigation law firm of Parmelee, Miller, Welsh & Kratz. At FCI Dan prepared and prosecuted a group of patent applications on ball grid array technology which resulted in a patent portfolio which was litigated in U.S. district court against major Chinese infringers   (Hon Hoi Industries and Foxconn). The patents were held valid and infringed, and FCI obtained an injunction against further infringement and a treble damages money judgement against the infringers.

Dan is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and afterwards served for twenty years of active duty and reserve component service as a U.S. Marine Corps artillery office, including a tour in Vietnam. He received his Juris Doctor degree from The University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and is registered at the U.S Patent and Trademark Office.

He resides with his wife, Maureen, and son and daughter in Amherst, New Hampshire.

Dan can be reached 603-886-6100, x 7012.

His resume is available here.

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Dr. Douglas P. Burum, technology specialist and registered patent agent, joined the firm in 2009. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Doug earned his Ph.D. and M.S. from the California Institute of Technology, disciplined in Applied Physics. He has over 25 years of experience in research, development, implementation, marketing, and sales of technical products experience across diverse industries in both US and international markets. The areas Doug has worked in range from medical devices, NMR, MRI, and LASER optics to computer hardware/software, and analog and digital electronics.

Doug provides counseling and services relating to invention capture, patent drafting, and prosecution, including office actions responses, appeals, continuations, continuations-in-part, and broadening re-issues in both US and foreign applications. He also provides counseling and services associated with business strategies.

Outside of the firm, Doug enjoys restoring antique radios and televisions, and acting in community theater, and singing in a barbershop quartet.

Doug can be reached at 603-886-6100, x 7006.

His resume is available here and publication credits are available here.

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Matthew J. Curran is a registered patent attorney that joined the firm in 2013 and was elected as a Member in 2018. Besides being registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, he is also admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well as before the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

Matthew earned his B.S. and M.S. in Plastics Engineering, a unique blend of chemistry and mechanical engineering, from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (UML), the only ABET accredited Plastics Engineering program in the U.S. and an internationally recognized leader in plastics engineering education. He then studied at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center, home to the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property and recognized as a one of the top-10 IP law programs in the United States for more than 20 years, where he received his J.D., while focusing heavily on Intellectual property.

Matthew stays connected with the local engineering community and his alma mater, UML, through serving as the secretary and webmaster for the Pioneer Valley chapter of the Eastern New England Society of Plastics Engineers and is also active in the Nashua Fish and Game Association. In his free time, Matthew enjoys tinkering with electronics, computers, and just about anything with a motor, almost always having at least one project he is working on.

Matthew can be reached at 603-886-6100, x 7009.

His resume is available here.

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Andrew P. Cernota is the managing member of the firm and a registered patent attorney. He has been with the firm since 2001. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, the Maine Supreme Court,  the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Andrew earned his A.B. from Dartmouth College in Chemistry (Physical and Inorganic). He studied at Franklin Pierce Law center, now University of New Hampshire School of Law, where he received his J.D. and L.L.M. in Intellectual Property.

Andrew advises and assists clients with the selection, licensing, protection, and enforcement of trademarks and also maintains an active Patent practice including licensing, technology transfer, and prosecution of patents. He has worked with clients to provide counseling and intellectual property right protection in a wide variety of technical fields including medical devices, semiconductors, photonics, and plastics.

Andrew is a member of the Nashua Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Dartmouth Lawyers Association, the Catholic Lawyers Guild, International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, and the American Chemical Society.

Andrew is active in his community volunteering as the Chairman of the Nashua Cable Television Advisory Board and in various religious, charitable, and political roles.

Andrew can be reached at (603)886-6100, x 7002.

His resume is available here.

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