David B. Cupar

Dave is Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and has a wide range of experience in advising both domestic and international clients in all areas of intellectual property law. Dave focuses his practice on assisting clients in obtaining, enforcing, and protecting all types of intellectual property rights. In particular, he assists clients in strategic client counseling and preparation of legal opinions on all intellectual property matters, representation in all types of intellectual property litigation matters, and domestic and foreign patent preparation and procurement in the mechanical, chemical, and biotechnical arts. Dave also has extensive experience in client counseling and preparation in filing and procuring both domestic and international trademarks.

Dave’s counseling experience includes counseling drug development companies, biotechnology companies, universities and nonprofit institutions and organizations that work jointly with the abovementioned entities in the areas of patent protection, the development of global patent strategies, and intellectual property portfolio management and analysis. In particular, Dave has extensive experience in assisting clients in transferring biotechnology into enforceable intellectual property rights. Dave’s technological expertise includes biochemistry, molecular biology, peptide chemistry, immunology, vaccine technologies, diagnostics, genomics, and medical devices.

• Prepared and procured patents in numerous polymeric fields including polymeric compositions and processing.
• Analyzed issues of patentability, patent infringement, validity, and enforceability, on behalf of numerous companies in the chemical, biotechnical, and mechanical arts.
• Obtained summary judgment of no misappropriation on a trade secret dispute pertaining to a complex polymeric process.
• Represented tier automotive supplier company in patent infringement suit involving complex polymeric process that included numerous patents and numerous parties.
• Represented tier automotive supplier company in patent infringement suit involving injection molding systems.
• Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement for a world leader in vehicle towing accessory systems in a patent infringement dispute.
• Obtained judgment of willful patent infringement for an aftermarket automotive supplier against a foreign manufacturer dumping infringing products into the U.S. market.
• Obtained judgment on behalf of a kitchen appliance company in trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices litigation against infringers wrongfully using and cybersquatting the company's trademark on the Internet.
• Represented a tier automotive company in a patent infringement suit stopping a competitor from manufacturing and selling a brake controller system. 
• Represented a kitchen appliance company in successfully asserting its patent against a competitor and obtaining a license agreement.
• Represented leader in product dispenser industry in patent infringement suit against competition involving U.S. and European patents.
• Counseled a local corporation in obtaining the first trademark license and becoming the first licensee of a famous trademark.
• Successfully defended a tier automotive company in defense of a suit relating to vehicle lighting systems.
• Counseled companies and institutions regarding licensing, sale and acquisition of intellectual property rights.
• Prepared and procured chemical and mechanical patent applications on behalf of tier one and tier two automotive supplier companies before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• International Trademark Association
• Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association-Chair, Chemical Committee
• American Intellectual Property Law Association-Member, Inventor Issues and Licensing & Transactions Committees
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• American Chemical Society

• "How the America Invents Act impacts your business," Smart Business Magazine, November 2011.
• "Clear and convincing evidence needed to invalidate a patent," McDonald Hopkins Alert, July 2011.
• "Patent owners rejoice: Inequitable conduct in litigation more difficult to prove," McDonald Hopkins Alert, July 2011.
• "Be careful with your agreements: Bayh-Dole Act does not automatically confer ownership of inventions from inventor," McDonald Hopkins Alert, July 2011.
• "Induced infringement: Are you being willfully blind?," McDonald Hopkins Alert, July 2011.
• "USPTO not immune from budget cuts," McDonald Hopkins Alert, May 2011.
• "Want to Obtain a Patent Faster? The USPTO’s New Rules Can Help You," McDonald Hopkins Alert, April, 2011.
• "Court Finds Patent False Marking Statute Unconstitutional," McDonald Hopkins Alert, February 2011.
• "Don't like the USPTO's Decision on Your Patent Application?," McDonald Hopkins Alert, December 2010.
• "Dislike Your Competitor's Patent? It may become easier to invalidate it," McDonald Hopkins Alert, December 2010.
• "Who is the Patent Owner of Federally Funded Inventions? Supreme Court to Hear Key Patent Ownership Issue," McDonald Hopkins Alert, November 2010.
• "How to keep your intellectual property safe while not infringing on others’ IP," Smart Business Magazine, November 2010.
• "Patent False Marking: It's Not as Hard for Someone to Have Standing to Sue as You Might Think,"  McDonald Hopkins Alert, September 2010.
• "Impact of Bilski on Patentable Innovations," McDonald Hopkins Alert, July 2010.
• "Changing the Genetic Landscape," McDonald Hopkins Alert, May 2010.
• "Watch Your Product Patent Marking Closely: New Series of Suits Asserting 'False Patent Marking' Against Companies," McDonald Hopkins Alert, April 2010.
• "Rethinking patents," Smart Business Magazine, May 2008.
• “Despite Laches Defense, Patent Owners Have Little Worries,” 8 Ohio Lawyers Weekly 31, May 31, 2004.

• "How the new Patent Reform Act affects your business – Now is the time to modify your patent strategies," McDonald Hopkins Roundtable, October 2011.
• "Funding options to capitalize your technology," McDonald Hopkins Roundtable, July 2011.
• "Intellectual Property Strategies to Protect Your Valuable Assets," Executive College on Laboratory and Pathology Management, New Orleans, May 2011.
• "What Every Business Should Know About 21st Century Intellectual Property Issues," McDonald Hopkins Roundtable, November 2010.
• "Practical Advice and Legal Strategies to Protect Intellectual Property of the Laboratory and Molecular Technologies," Executive College on Laboratory and Pathology Management, New Orleans, May 2009.
• "Best Practices for Avoiding Inequitable Conduct Issues," Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association, October 2008.
• "Intellectual Property Strategies: Two Case Studies," Executive College on Laboratory and Pathology Management, Miami, May 2008.
• “Post-KSR Strategies in the Chemical and Biotech Fields,” Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association, November 2007.

• Selected for inclusion in Ohio Rising Stars (2011, 2013)