David E. LaRose was born in Louisiana in 1951. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1973 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering.

During his chemical engineering career, he was a licensed professional engineer in Louisiana. He received his J.D. degree in 1989 from Louisiana State University.

Prior to obtaining his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, he was employed as a summer engineer for a major oil refinery company in Beaumont, Texas. During his summer employment, he conducted pollution control studies and modified computer programs to assist in refinery operation simulation.

During his chemical engineering career, David worked as an operations engineer, a design engineer and a research and development engineer for PPG Industries, Inc. in the field of specialty chemicals, glass, fiberglass, coatings and resins. He developed special expertise in the area of chlorine, caustic, and chlorinated organics and had hands on experience with operating a chlorine and caustic production facility. He was also involved in design, construction, and operation of various chemical plant facilities including hypochlorite facility that was taken from bench scale to full scale production without an intermediate pilot plant operation. He assisted in technology licensing and patent licensing efforts for PPG Industries as they promoted newly developed technology worldwide.

He was in charge of optimizing and improving an international production facility in Canada for the production of chlorine and caustic in order to modernize the existing facility and improve its operating efficiency. Just prior to attending law school, David was employed at PPG's chemical research facility in Ohio where he was involved with operation of an emulsion polymer pilot plant for the production of vinyl chloride polymers.

Upon graduation from law school, David began his practice of patent and trademark law with Ethyl Corporation in 1989 where he served as divisional patent counsel for business groups handling a variety of industrial and specialty chemicals. He assisted in the filing and prosecution of trademarks worldwide and interacted with inventors at the early stages of projects to assess the patentability of various chemical and mechanical inventions. He developed expertise in the area of brominated chemicals and fuel and lubricant additives as well as preparing and prosecuting patent applications for such chemicals, chemical processes, and formulations. In 1993, Ethyl Corporation was awarded U.S. Patent No.5,237,112, entitled "Process for Tetrabromobisphenol A" where David was named as the sole inventor.

As processes and products were developed, he negotiated and drafted secrecy agreements, license agreements and various contracts for the company relating to the use, or licensing of patents and trademarks.

He joined this firm in 1994 focusing on the chemical and mechanical practice areas and on intellectual property litigation. His extensive engineering and patent background has enabled him to provide valuable services to a variety of large and small clients in areas of patent, trademark, and copyright law dealing with complex polymer chemistry and composite materials, a wide variety of mechanical devices, computer software patents, and electro-mechanical devices. He provides valuable validity and clearance opinions for his clients as well as analysis and proposals for modifications which avoid infringement of patents and trademarks. David is a member of the State Bars of Tennessee and Louisiana and is registered to practice before the Patent and Trademark Office.

Legal Secretary: Marie Evans

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