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Rodrigo Velasco S., an avid race-car driver, began his law career as a court litigator. After attending his first trademark opposition and cancellation hearings, however, he changed lanes, and he hasn’t looked back since. Now, as managing partner of the intellectual property group at Alessandri & Compañía of Santiago, Chile, he deals extensively with trademark prosecution and litigation matters.
Aside from traditional trademark law issues, a significant part of Rodrigo’s day-to-day practice involves domain names, both through acting as an arbitrator for WIPO and through counseling and representing clients in related litigation and arbitration. Along with domain names, Rodrigo believes that a focus on the Internet and other new technologies is the path forward for this area of the law and many of today’s practitioners.
Rodrigo is a lawyer who loves giving back to the profession. An active member of INTA, he was for many years the contributor for Chile to The Trademark Reporter’s International Annual Review issue. He also served on the Organizing Committee for the 1998 Annual Meeting in Boston, as well as in several International Roundtables. In addition to his INTA volunteer efforts, Rodrigo is active in the Chilean Association of Industrial Property (ACHIPI), the Inter-American Association of Industrial Property (ASIPI) and the International Federation of Counselors in Industrial Property (FICPI). He is currently Chile’s delegate to the Executive Committee of FICPI.
Not only does Rodrigo find time to manage his busy legal practice and volunteer efforts, but he also serves as a teacher, author and frequent lecturer. Some of his most memorable experiences have been as Professor of Civil Procedure and Industrial Property Law at the University of Chile, his alma mater. He has written several articles on industrial and intellectual property, published in Chile and internationally. In addition, he has also spoken about trademark law at many national and international conferences, and will participate in the Latin American Legal Update at the 2013 Annual Meeting in Dallas.
Being a lawyer runs in Rodrigo’s family: his father was Dean of the University of Chile Law School, in Santiago, and his two sons are lawyers as well. If he hadn’t chosen a career in law, though, he would have loved to follow his other great passion and be a Formula One racing driver. A race-car driver when he was young, Rodrigo now collects cars, participates in classic car rallies and is writing his second book on the history of car racing in Chile. He even attended the racing school at the Ferrari factory in Italy. Fittingly, several of his favorite trademarks are car-related: FERRARI, ASTON MARTIN and JAGUAR.
Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.
© 2013 International Trademark Association |
