Robert Blasi is a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Business Law Department. As a patent attorney, he assists high-technology clients with open source software issues, intellectual property protection, licensing and intellectual property issues arising in corporate transactions.

Work for Clients

Mr. Blasi assists clients with issues relating to software licensed under “open source” licenses. This includes the development and implementation of appropriate internal usage policies and the treatment of open source issues arising in due diligence and corporate transactions. He also has significant experience developing and implementing patent portfolio strategies in the areas of computer software and hardware and business methods, both domestically and abroad. His portfolio clients range from incipient technology companies to members of the Fortune 1000.

Mr. Blasi’s transactional practice includes intellectual property licensing and opinion work addressing issues of freedom-to-operate, patentability, infringement, and validity. He regularly counsels clients concerning intellectual property issues arising in subscription agreements, acquisitions and asset purchases.

Mr. Blasi also assists trial counsel with patent issues that arise in the course of litigation. He has worked on patent litigation in the areas of computer software, computer hardware, cable television technologies, portable bar code printers, airplane security systems and e-commerce methods.

Professional Activities

Mr. Blasi has been named a “Massachusetts Rising Star” by Law & Politics magazine for the past three years. For several years he has served as a judge for Harvard Law School’s Ames Moot Court competition and the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition.

Publications/Presentations

While in law school, Mr. Blasi was a senior editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. As an attorney, he has written for Pulse of Technology, Global Intellectual Property Asset Management Report, and Intellectual Asset Management magazines. Mr. Blasi recently contributed a section on international technology licensing to International Corporate Practice (PLI, Nov. 2007).

Mr. Blasi has spoken on current issues in intellectual property law, including recent issues in open source licensing and enforcement, cross-border issues in IT contracting, and restrictions on technology export, for a variety of audiences including the MIT Entrepreneurs Club and York University’s Osgoode Professional Development Program.

Professional Experience

Prior to joining Goodwin Procter in 2005, Mr. Blasi was an associate in the Patent and Intellectual Property Practice Group at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston.

Bar and Court Admissions

Mr. Blasi is admitted to practice in Massachusetts; the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts; the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit; and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. He is also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Education

J.D., Harvard Law School, 2000 (cum laude)
M.S., Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1997
B.S., Electrical Engineering, Drexel University, 1995 (summa cum laude)

As a graduate student at U.C. Berkeley, Mr. Blasi worked with a team of researchers to develop an automobile that could steer itself on a highway using computer vision techniques. The car operated at speeds up to 90 mph on test track and open road conditions.