Leveraging AI to Combat IP Theft

When it comes to brand management, Airina Rodrigues represents some of the country’s most well-known brands. Airina advises clients on the development, protection and commercialization of intellectual property assets. Her work includes matters involving trademarks and trade dress (including global trademark portfolio management and strategic advice), copyrights, trade secrets, right of publicity, false advertising, patents and commercial contracts. With a particular expertise securing and enforcing the intellectual property of global brands, Airina has represented several Fortune 500 companies and other prominent companies. Her clients span industries such as consumer and personal care products; fashion; media and entertainment; real estate and entertainment properties; aviation and defense; financial services and FinTech; InsurTech; and software, SaaS and IT consulting.

When enforcement of her clients’ intellectual property assets becomes necessary, Airina is an experienced litigator who has successfully represented some of the country’s most well-known and famous brands in U.S. federal district and appellate courts, as well as before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO. She has also developed and successfully deployed cross-border and multijurisdiction litigation and enforcement strategies for her clients.

In addition, Airina helps her clients commercialize intellectual property assets through sophisticated intellectual property licensing and technology transactions as well as commercial agreements involving intellectual property, complex technology solutions and related services. She represents clients seeking to engage technology vendors and service providers through various types of commercial arrangements, including licenses, service agreements, joint venture agreements, and joint collaboration and development agreements.

Airina is not currently licensed to practice in Colorado.

Melissa K. Ventrone is a Member in the firm’s Chicago office where she addresses her clients’ cybersecurity needs. She reacts swiftly and decisively when she is enlisted on a cybersecurity breach. As leader of the cybersecurity breach response team, she focuses her experienced group of first responders, including lawyers and forensic investigators, on around-the-clock management of the situation and minimizing damage by working to limit any public or regulatory fallout. When not managing her clients’ urgent breach concerns, Melissa is a proactive consultant in managing data privacy and security risks. She is also a zealous courtroom advocate in cybersecurity litigation.

Melissa is a Certified Informational Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

Melissa’s experience extends from small breaches impacting a few hundred people to larger breaches impacting millions on behalf of merchants, financial institutions, medical providers and educational institutions. Melissa and her team work with clients to preserve evidence, determine a breach's scope, document the response and craft communications that both meet legal requirements and protect a company's brand. She also advises on establishing incident call centers and staff training, and formulates other methods to protect impacted individuals from potentially negative outcomes.

Melissa has a track record of success in defending companies facing data security and privacy litigation, including class actions. She has represented a variety of clients in multiple industries in disputes related to privacy, invasion of privacy, contracts, consumer fraud, statutory claims and other matters. She has litigated cases of first impression establishing favorable law, including obtaining summary judgment in a class action case alleging damages from the theft of a hard drive, and successfully defending a merchant against a class action arising out of a credit card breach.

Melissa advises clients on compliance with state, federal and international laws and regulations. She helps companies ensure that policies, procedures and cyber crisis response plans are sufficient. Melissa runs breach simulation exercises, which are very useful tools for training, testing and enhancing a company's response time in a breach situation. When vulnerabilities are found, Melissa works with management teams, boards of directors, vendors, outside consultants and other third parties to build and execute risk-reducing action plans.

In addition, Melissa drafts and negotiates contractual agreements concerning data use and retention and privacy and security, including cloud computing contracts. She also serves as a first responder for situations involving use or misuse of computers and other devices.

Melissa's leadership abilities extend beyond her legal practice. She recently completed a distinguished 21 years of service in the Marine Corps Reserve, holding several key positions, including Company Commander for a 200-person unit, Executive Officer for a 329-person company deployed to Afghanistan, Operations Officer for a 1,000-person motor transport battalion, and the Logistics Officer for Combat Logistics Regiment 4. She also volunteers as an ombudsman for the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve in which she serves as a mediator on employment-related disputes.

Tara Lawler’s practice focuses on eDiscovery, information management, and data privacy. She works with companies in all phases of electronic discovery and information management, including counseling on various preservation, collection, data processing, document review, and production-related strategies. Tara’s primary focus is on product liability and toxic tort cases, as well as commercial and white collar litigation in US federal and state court. She also counsels clients on legal, technical, and strategic issues involved in the manufacturing, healthcare, software, and investment industries.

As part of Morgan Lewis’s eData practice, Tara employs thoroughly documented and successful techniques for managing discovery.

Tara remains committed through all phases of litigation management, from legal holds and preservation, to negotiations with opposing counsel and discovery motion practice, to trial support. She partners with clients to preserve potentially relevant information, develop strategies for collecting hard copy and electronic materials, establish a document review process, and assess various document production options.

Along with her role on the eData team, Tara also handles pretrial case management, prepares company witnesses, conducts company interviews, and assists clients with government investigations and related civil litigation.

Tara previously worked as an associate in the litigation practice of a national law firm.

Tara received her JD, Cum Laude, at Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2002.