The law firm of Valauskas Haukaas protects clients' intellectual property in the United States and abroad. The firm's practice includes all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and right of publicity law.
Attorneys
Allison M. Corder practices in all areas of intellectual property law. She has over 20 years of experience preparing and prosecuting patents covering a wide array of subject matter, including mechanical, electrical, software, computer hardware, and artificial intelligence. Her experience also includes the preparation and prosecution of trademark and copyright registration applications. She has participated in federal litigation and administrative matters and engaged international administrative panels to resolve domain name disputes to take down counterfeit websites as well as acquire infringing domain names for Clients. As a Certified Licensing Professional, she has structured, negotiated, and drafted a variety of IP-related agreements.
Before joining private practice, Allison worked at Motorola as an engineer designing base station infrastructure and consumer wearable products. She transitioned to technology asset management mining, managing, and licensing Motorola’s patent portfolio and worked with a team to create the company’s first ever patent committee. As Patent Committee Chair, she organized a process by which some 1500 invention disclosures could be considered a year.
Allison enjoys assisting entrepreneurs and speaking at educational institutions including Purdue University.
EDUCATION
University of Illinois, B.S., Engineering
European IP Certificate, University of Amsterdam
Chicago Kent College of Law, J.D.
ADMISSIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of Illinois
United States Supreme Court
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Certified Licensing Professional, Licensing Executives Society
International Trademark Association
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Illinois State Bar Association
Dr. Fairman is a patent attorney with a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and cardiovascular physiology, practice representing universities and companies nationally and globally in identifying, protecting and enforcing their intellectual property in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, genomics, and medical devices.
Dr. Fairman’s expertise includes strategic planning and management of large, complex patent portfolios, especially small molecule therapeutics, bio-prosthesis, polymer, organic and surface chemistry. He has extensive experience with drafting and prosecuting patents in the chemical and biological arts including small molecule therapeutics, drug delivery, protein purification, chemical synthesis, molecular biology, transgenic and recombinant organisms, optics and dental adhesives and prostheses, clinical diagnostics. Dr. Fairman’s prosecution expertise includes the USPTO and international patent applications, examiner interviews, and client consultation, patent reexamination and inter partes review. His other IP experience includes freedom to operate opinions, patentability and infringement analysis and infringement settlement negotiations, brief preparation and preparation of infringement complaints. His transactional experience includes licensing (both in and out) and contracts. Dr. Fairman’s scientific experience includes the use of advanced chemistry, biochemistry, and immuno-chemistry techniques including IFA, ELISA, EIA, HU-self-Ab, fluorescence, digoxygenin, and molecular biology techniques including: molecular cloning, PCR, gene array, Northern analysis and Western analysis, electrophysiology, and microscopic anatomy.
EDUCATION
James Madison University, B.S., Biology
University of Hawaii-Manoa, Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences-Medical Physiology
University of Wisconsin – Madison, J.D.
ADMISSIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of Minnesota
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Minnesota Intellectual Property Law Association
Michael Haukaas, Ph.D., practices Patent Law in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Arts, and has extensive experience drafting and prosecuting Patent Applications before the United States and International Patent Offices. Dr. Haukaas also has significant experience preparing opinions to analyze various legal issues such as Patentability, Inventorship, Infringement, and Freedom to Operate.
Dr. Haukaas manages the Chemical Patent Practice at Valauskas Haukaas. Prior to becoming a Patent Attorney, Dr. Haukaas spent time as a Food Scientist with General Mills, Inc. and conducted Post-Doctoral Research in the field of Organic Semiconductor Synthesis for Field Effect Transistors.
EDUCATION
Augsburg College, B.A., Biology, Cum Laude
Northland College, B.S., Chemistry
University of Minnesota, Ph.D., Synthetic Organic Chemistry
William Mitchell College of Law, J.D.
ADMISSIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of Minnesota
State Bar of Wisconsin
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Association of University Technology Managers
American Chemical Society
American Bar Association
Minnesota Intellectual Property Law Association
Paul K. Judd, Ph.D., is a patent attorney whose practice includes patent prosecution of United States and foreign patent applications with an emphasis in biotechnology, medical devices, and mechanical devices. Exemplary technologies include antibody-drug conjugates, enzymatic inhibitors, drug delivery systems, pharmaceuticals, biochemical assays, microfluidic devices, chemical coatings, stents, and heart valves. Dr. Judd has worked in the Intellectual Property field since 2008.
Prior to his law career, Dr. Judd’s doctoral work focused on the pathogenicity of the soil bacterium Agrobacterium
tumefaciens, the causative agent of Crown Gall Tumor Disease in plants. During his time as a graduate student, Dr. Judd was the recipient of several awards including the Arnold R. Johnson Fellowship in Biochemistry, Bacaner award for Excellence in Basic Biological Research, and a Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics Teaching Award.
EDUCATION
Saint John’s University, B.A., Biology (1997)
University of Minnesota, Ph.D., Biochemistry (2004)
William Mitchell College of Law, J.D. (2008)
BAR ADMISSION
State Bar of Minnesota
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Allan Kutzanco is a successful intellectual property attorney with 20 years of experience achieving favorable outcomes in the chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries. He has worked as outside counsel and in-house counsel (Schering-Plough, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences). He has been a key advisor on patent and trademark strategies from R&D through the full product lifecycle, including providing opinions on patents and trademarks, preparing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications, assessing competitive landscapes, conducting IP due diligence, coordinating IP and regulatory strategies, managing global patent and trademark portfolios and supporting multi-billion dollar product launches. In addition to preparing and prosecuting patent applications, he provides strategic patent portfolio analysis for his clients. Allan also practiced as an industrial chemist for over eight years at Polychrome Corporation and BASF.
EDUCATION
Kean University, B.S. Chemistry, Cum Laude
Rutgers University School of Law, J.D.
​ADMISSIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
State Bars of New York and New Jersey
United States Patent and Trademark Office
SFIPLA (San Francisco Intellectual Property Association)
Charles Valauskas has assisted a variety of business ventures, non-profit organizations, and individuals to protect and commercialize a wide range of new technologies and creative products and services.
Mr. Valauskas speaks on a regular basis throughout the world on technological and intellectual property topics and has authored books, chapters of books, and articles on intellectual property and business-related topics. He has appeared on the BBC World Series and in articles published in a variety of popular publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the ABA Journal, and Crain’s Chicago Business. Mr. Valauskas was an adjunct law professor for intellectual property matters in Chicago.
Mr. Valauskas’ involvement in the activities of non-profit organizations include serving on the Advisory Board of the Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the American Bar Association’s University Intellectual Property Law Committee, and the Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals “Future Look” Task Force. He was the Vice President for Industry Relations of the Association of University Technology Managers and has served on many of its committees including the branding committee.
EDUCATION
University of Illinois-Chicago, B.S.
DePaul University College of Law, J.D.
Northwestern University School of Law, LL.M.
ADMISSIONS
Illinois State Bar
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Donald Chen is a patent attorney with a M.S. in computer engineering, practice representing clients nationally and globally in identifying, protecting and enforcing their intellectual property in a wide range of computer and electrical engineering areas. He has extensive experience with drafting and prosecuting patents in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering arts ranging from semiconductor, hardware, software, to business method, from Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, virtualization, to blockchain.
Prior to joining private practices, Donald worked for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for more than six years, as a patent examiner and primary patent examiner. He uses his USPTO experience (which is helpful in drafting patent applications, conducting Examiner Interviews and responding to Office Actions) as an advantage for his clients, to seek patent protections from USPTO.
When not practicing law, he often engages in reading, long-distance running, mountain hiking, cooking, and target shooting.
EDUCATION
J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law
M.S. in Computer Engineering, University of Connecticut
B.S. in Computer Science, Nanjing University
ADMISSIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of Connecticut
State Bar of New York
United States Patent and Trademark Office
IEEE Computer Society
American Intellectual Property Law Association
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Mandarin
French
Japanese
Firm Professionals
Raymond F. Horvath, Ph.D., earned his graduate degree from McGill University and was awarded a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) postdoctoral fellowship as an organic chemist at Yale University, where he did research in total synthesis of natural products. Subsequently, he entered the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
For more than 20 years, Raymonds career focused on medicinal chemistry of the central nervous system, organic synthesis and process chemistry. He worked on several drug discovery projects that entered development and were partnered with leading pharmaceutical companies. Raymond relocated to Europe to undertake a position with an emerging biotechnology company, producing patentable therapeutics for cancer. This was followed by a position as an Investigator at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore where Raymond led a team in the search for new anti-malaria drugs.
During his career in research Raymond contributed to over 50 patents and publications. As an inventor and author, he developed an interest in intellectual property and became a Registered U.S. Patent Agent.
EDUCATION
Yale University, NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemistry and Natural Products
McGill University, Ph.D., Chemistry
University of Waterloo, B.Sc. (Hons), Chemistry
Admissions and Memberships
U.S. Registered Patent Agent
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Minnesota Intellectual Property Association (MIPLA)
Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)
Prior to joining the predecessor to the current Firm, Christy worked at an Intellectual Property firm in Minneapolis for twelve years during which she handled all aspects of the U.S., PCT, and foreign patent process. Christy earned a B.S. in Paralegal Studies from the Minnesota School of Business in 2009, where she graduated with honors. Prior to working in the legal field, Christy worked in the banking industry for seven years.
EDUCATION
Minnesota School of Business, B.S. Paralegal Studies, with High Honors
Mihail began his legal career in Bulgaria in 2020, where he helped research court rules in relation to COVID guidelines and later went on to clerk for the district court in Sliven, Bulgaria. Upon his move to the US, he worked as a Legal Analyst Intern before becoming a paralegal at Valauskas Haukaas, PLLC in 2024.
EDUCATION
University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria – Master of Laws
Chicago-Kent College of Law – LLM International Intellectual Property Law
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Russian
Bulgarian
Staff
Liana’s 20 years of professional experience spans a wide variety of industries from health & wellness to community engagement programs with an emphasis in small business development, as well as a background in coding and graphic design. She has a Master's Certificate in Small Business & Entrepreneurship, as well as a Full Stack Engineering Certification and is passionate about developing systems to help small businesses run better. She began working with many of the attorneys that are in Valauskas Haukaas in 2024.
EDUCATION
College of St. Benedict – Dietetics, DPD
University of Minnesota – Master’s Certificate
University of Minnesota – Full Stack Engineering Certificate (MERN Stack)