9 April, 2019
Duane Morris & Selvam Taiwan has hired John R. Alison as of counsel in its Intellectual Property Practice Group. Alison will be based in the Taiwan office, but will also spend time in Duane Morris’ Washington, D.C., office. He joins Duane Morris from Winston & Strawn LLP.
“John’s extensive experience with patent litigation in the high technology, pharmaceutical and biotech industries aligns perfectly with the needs of our current clients both domestically and internationally,” said L. Norwood (Woody) Jameson, partner and chair of Duane Morris’ Intellectual Property Practice Group. “John is a highly experienced patent litigator, as is Kevin Anderson, who just joined our practice in Washington recently. We are very excited that both of these lawyers have decided to join Duane Morris and we look forward to collaborating with them to serve the needs of our clients.”
For more than 25 years, Alison has represented clients in the semiconductor, optoelectronic, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and biotech industries across the Greater China region. He has litigated more than 100 patent, trade secret and trademark matters filed in U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and state courts. Alison clerked for Chief Judge Howard T. Markey at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 1984 to 1986. He also has handled appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Fourth Circuit and Sixth Circuit. In addition to litigation, he actively works in intellectual property licensing.
“John’s skill set, background and extensive Taiwan experience are a perfect match for Duane Morris,” said Richard L. Thurston, head of the Duane Morris & Selvam Taiwan office. “He will be a valuable addition to our Taiwan office and Intellectual Property Practice Group.”
Alison is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1984), the University of Chicago (M.A., 1980) and Swarthmore College (B.A., with distinction, 1979). He is a co-founding member (along with Dr. Thurston and several other local lawyers) of the Chinese-Taipei branch of Licensing Executives Society International (“LESCT”). Alison served from 2015 to 2019 as LESCT’s president and now serves on its board of directors. In addition, he has recently taught intellectual property law at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan, and at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Alison previously was named as a guest research fellow at Peking University’s Institute of International Intellectual Property Protection and as an associate professor at National Chiao Tung University, Graduate Institute of Intellectual Property.
