William W. Cochran

Mr. Cochran has over 50 years of experience in patent law and is the founding member of Cochran Freund & Young LLC. He started his career in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Examiner in the computer arts and received several superior performance awards while working at the Patent and Trademark Office. After three years in the USPTO, he worked for five years as a patent agent/attorney for the Office of Naval Research on radar systems, communication systems, semiconductor technology, lasers, control systems, weapon systems, etc. Mr. Cochran was located at the Naval Research Laboratory, the Naval Surface Weapons Center and the Pacific Missile Test Center. Mr. Cochran spent the next six years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Senior Patent Attorney. He worked in a variety of technologies including computer technology, electro-quantum mechanics, cryogenic superconductivity, astrophysics, laser fusion, magnetic containment fusion, particle beam weapons, fuel cell technology and various laser systems and applications. He was then in private practice in Denver for four years. Mr. Cochran worked as an intellectual property attorney and counselor for Digital Equipment Corporation for two years and was a Regional Counsel and the World-Wide Director of Intellectual Property Litigation at Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Cochran has been Of-Counsel with Holland & Hart in Denver and most recently a partner in the intellectual property law firm of Merchant & Gould. Mr. Cochran started the Denver office of Merchant & Gould.

Mr. Cochran is the author of various technology licensing agreements published in “Software Transactions.” He is a co-author of the U.S. Trademark Association Treatise on Colorado Trademark Statutes and has authored numerous other papers published in the area of Intellectual Property Law. A leading U.S. patent attorney, Mr. Cochran is also a frequent speaker on intellectual property. He has spoken before the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Larimer County Bar Association, CLE International, the Georgetown University Law School Computer Law Conference and the Technology Training Corporation. Mr. Cochran, a patent and IP litigation attorney, has been co-counsel in numerous litigations representing small clients against large companies, including Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Glaxo Smith Kline and Bed, Bath & Beyond. He has been an expert patent law witness in several high profile cases. He recently won a landmark case at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit relating to color trademarks.

Bar and Court Admissions:

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Registered Patent Attorney, 1973
• District of Columbia Bar, 1975
• Colorado Bar, 1983
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1992
• Court of Customs and Patent Appeals,
• Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 1982
• Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 1975
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1983
• U.S. Supreme Court, 2006

Professional Associations:

• American Intellectual Property Law Association; Subcommittee Chair
• American Bar Association; Subcommittee Chair
• Colorado Bar Association; Past Chair of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section
• Former Councilman for National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations
• Former Member of IEEE
• U.S. Ski Coaches Association
• Professional Ski Instructors Association, Certified Instructor