Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP today welcomes noted trademark lawyer Scott E. Thompson as a partner in its Intellectual Property Practice Group in New York, further enhancing the firm’s ability to provide a full range of IP services to its clients. Thompson was previously with Greenberg Traurig in New York.
Joining Thompson is Masahiro Noda, also previously with Greenberg Traurig in New York. Noda joins as Counsel in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.
Thompson, who has more than 28 years of IP experience, including 15 years in-house, focuses his practice on domestic and international trademark/brand management and counseling, multicountry complex IP transactions, lawsuits and administrative proceedings as well as leading anticounterfeiting efforts and intellectual property enforcement and defensive litigation on behalf of Fortune 100 companies across an array of industries. Thompson also advises his clients regarding intellectual property licensing, advertising law and advertising clearance.
“Scott has established himself as a global leader in the IP arena,” said Alfred W. Putnam, Jr., Drinker Biddle’s Chairman. “His time in-house, as well as in private practice, has allowed him to learn firsthand the business considerations our clients face on a daily basis. Scott is one of the best at understanding those considerations and providing solutions to them.”
Thompson’s in-house experience includes stints as Vice President of Global Trademarks for GlaxoSmithKline, Vice President & Associate General Counsel for Colgate-Palmolive Company and Assistant General Counsel Philip Morris Companies. He also is involved with the International Trademark Association and has served as the secretary and treasurer, and as a member of the Board of Directors.
That experience was particularly attractive to Drinker Biddle as it continues to build a broadbased IP practice, said Jack Michel, Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Michel, too, noted that Thompson’s addition comes just six months after former U.S. Patent Commissioner Bob Stoll joined the firm.
“As we continue to grow our IP practice, we are deliberately adding those lawyers who can help us integrate our practice into the rest of the firm,” Michel said. “Scott’s technical skills, as well as his ability to understand a company’s business, make him a great fit — not just for our particular practice group, but for this firm as a whole.”
Thompson has been repeatedly recognized by the World Trademark Review of the leading trademark lawyers in the world —most recently in 2011 and 2012 — and has previously received WTR’s award for Best Global Trademark Team in 2007 and 2008 for his work at GlaxoSmithKline. He earned his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.
Noda represents clients across a number of industries in trademark, copyright, unfair competition, anti-counterfeiting, trade dress and false advertising matters. A native Japanese speaker, Noda specializes in assisting Japanese clients in IP-related matters as well as in numerous other business ventures and activities in the United States. Noda has been named to the New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. He earned his law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan.
