Travis W. Bliss

Dr. Travis Bliss counsels a variety of clients ranging from individual inventors to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in nearly all major aspects of intellectual property law. Because of his breadth of experience, Travis is able to consider multiple facets of intellectual property law when counseling a client on an IP issue, thereby providing his clients with a comprehensive view of the IP landscape. Travis’ flexibility and adaptability to consider and work in the newest legal proceedings and technologies give value to clients who are looking for optimal solutions specific for their business needs.

Travis is the Chair of Buchanan’s IP Biotechnology & Life Sciences Practice Group and also heads the firm’s plant IP practice within that group. From a technology standpoint, Travis’s practice in that area falls largely within the life sciences field, including novel plant varieties, transgenic plants, diagnostic testing methods/apparatus, pharmaceuticals and biologics, and treatment methods. With regard to the cannabis industry, Travis is a thought leader in the area of IP protections for cannabis-based inventions, including novel cannabis varieties and products.

Prior to entering the legal profession, Travis earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from the Department of Agriculture at the University of Delaware, with course work and research that focused on animal and plant genetics, molecular immunology, biotechnology and bioinformatics.

His Ph.D. dissertation addressed gene expression in avian macrophage cells using EST libraries and DNA microarrays, and he also participated in research projects that involved diagnostic testing, pathogen identification, vaccine analysis and cell culture. These undergraduate and graduate programs gave Travis technical experience in numerous areas of the chemical and biological arts.

Travis has prepared and prosecuted domestic and foreign patent applications for both small and large companies in numerous technology areas both within and outside of the field of life sciences, including novel plant species and transgenic plants, diagnostic testing methods and apparatus, pharmaceuticals, biologics, polymer science, spraying/fiber spinning technologies, mechanical devices and materials science. Additionally, he has experience in trademark procurement, maintaining a docket of trademark applications filed both domestically and internationally.

Travis’s IP litigation experience includes litigating patent and trademark infringement disputes, trade secret disputes, licensing disputes and inventorship disputes in both federal and state courts. He has defended both large and small companies against charges of trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement, has asserted patents against competitors on behalf of clients and has brought claims of improper inventorship against one of the largest companies in the world. Travis is also a member of Buchanan’s Patent Office Litigation group and has litigated numerous disputes, including patent interference and inter partes review proceedings, before the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

A large portion of Travis’s practice also involves IP counseling, which largely involves strategizing with clients to determine their ultimate business needs and how IP fits into that strategy. Travis’s role as an IP counselor incorporates IP due diligence, preparation of IP opinions (e.g., FTO, invalidity, noninfringement, and patentability opinions) and preparation of licenses for monetization of all types of IP assets.

Travis begins his client relationships by taking time to learn the client’s business to truly become a trusted business advisor. With that background knowledge of the client’s business, Travis then assists his clients in formulating an IP strategy and with executing that strategy throughout every stage of the IP life cycle – from procurement of IP assets to monetizing those assets to enforcing those assets against competitors, and all the while being cognizant of the need for avoidance of competitors’ IP positions.

Because of his breadth of experience, Travis is able to consider multiple facets of intellectual property law when counseling a client on an IP issue, thereby providing his clients with a comprehensive view of the IP landscape.

Whether counseling clients on the most advantageous intellectual property avenues to pursue for a particular technology or counseling clients on the most practical ways to avoid or overcome the intellectual property of competitors, Travis strives to assist his clients from the planning stages all the way through execution to make sure his clients are getting the most out of their intellectual property assets.