J. Andrew McKinney & Associates, LLC

Biographical Information:  J. Andrew McKinney, Jr.

            J. Andrew  McKinney, Jr. specializes solely in Intellectual Property matters, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.  He is BV rated.

            He was registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1991 and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1995.  Mr. McKinney  studied electrical engineering at the University of South Florida  (B.S.E.E., 1983) and the Johns Hopkins University (M.S., 1987), and studied law at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law (J.D., with honors, 1994). 

            His engineering background includes research with the Electromagnetic Compatibility Analysis Center (ECAC) where he studied mechanisms affecting electromagnetic compatibility between avionics systems, an effort which included developing and executing test plans for radar and avionics receivers and spread-spectrum communications transmitters  and designing  RF and microwave test instruments (1983-1986).  He also served as a Technical Management Consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton where he managed satellite communications systems testing and evaluation projects (1986-1988). 

            Mr. McKinney is a supporter of the arts community and is a frequent lecturer on Copyrights.  He is also an avid amateur loudspeaker builder (1975-present), has been a contributor to Voice Coil magazine (1995-1997) and is a featured columnist in the ALMA (loudspeaker manufacturers association) newsletter ALMANews writing the  “Ask Andy” series on patent, trademark and copyright issues.  He has also written a number of articles on intellectual property law published in the Baltimore legal newspaper, The Daily Record.

            Mr. McKinney is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA), the Anne Arundel Bar Association (AABA) and the Bar Association of Baltimore City (BABC) and has given many Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentations on intellectual property law topics including several sponsored by these bar associations.  He served as co-Chair for the BABC technology committee and is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the American Bar Association (ABA), ALMA (the loudspeaker manufacturers association) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Representative  Publications: 

The Daily Record, 09/28/00, Small-Business Law: Protect Your Business Ideas

ipFrontline™, 1/23/2002, Business Methodology Patents & E-Commerce Business Planning

ipFrontline™, 3/13/2002, Recognizing An Intellectual Property Law Issue, A Brief Primer On Trademarks, Copyrights And Patents 

ipFrontline™, 3/20/2002, Use It Right Or Lose It: Seven Easy Tips For Proper Trademark Usage

The Daily Record, 06/13/02, Intellectual Property - A stitch in time, IP and Employment Agreements

ipFrontline™, 10/9/2002, Avoiding Conflicts with Employees Over Intellectual Property Rights

Maryland Bar Journal, May/June 2004, Avoiding Trademark Genericide

MSBA BAR BULLETIN, November 2004, A new "zero-tolerance" copyright standard for sampling in digital recording.

MSBA BAR BULLETIN, March 2005, Bar Bulletin Focus-Intellectual Property, Easy and Fun Copyright Ideas to Fight Firm Website Plagiarism

MSBA Annual Meeting Program, June 2008,  IP Section Panel Discussion:  Tips for handling Patent, Trademark, Domain Name & E-Commerce Issues.

Bar Admissions:

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office - April 15^th, 1991

Maryland Court of Appeals - June 21st, 1995

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland - June 7th, 1999

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit - January 26^th, 1999

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - October 11th, 2002

U.S. Supreme Court - May 14^th, 2007

Representative US Patents:

7,495,952, Relay-connected semiconductor transistors

7,494,097, Method and transportable clamping apparatus for preparing mortar and cement mixtures on building or construction sites

7,476,865, Radioactive decay based stable frequency source

7,301,453, Locator system and method

7,301,254, High efficiency radio isotope energy converters using both charge and kinetic energy of emitted particles.

7,222,451, Quick disconnect bipod mount and clamp assembly

7,181,283, Multi-user non blocking duplex wireless voice communication system and method

7,121,034, Bipod mount and grip assembly

7,035,609, Method and apparatus for automatically identifying an antenna connected to a radio transmitter and for automatically controlling a transmitter

6,938,726, Field rebuildable low frequency loudspeaker driver having a removable diaphragm assembly, parts kit and method for rebuilding a loudspeaker driver in the field

6,757,523, Configuration of transmit/receive switching in a transceiver

6,629,381, Reinforced firearm sight support ring

6,567,529, Low frequency loudspeaker driver having a polygonal diaphragm and method for mounting drivers in a tightly packed two-dimensional array

6,516,076, Modular horn loudspeaker

6,238,400, Method and [surgical] apparatus for trephination and irrigation of the frontal sinus cavity

5,760,501, Compression driver motor structure

D447,532, Removable mount for firearm sight

Expert Witness, IP topics:

BRASS METAL PRODUCTS, INC. v.  E-J ENTERPRISES, INC., et al, CIRCUIT COURT FOR HOWARD COUNTY, MD (Case No. 13-C-06-067045, 2008)

Representative Cases:

Inoxcrom, Inc. v. GMPC et al, (D.NJ, 2001-CV-2899JWB) (design patent infringement).

Bond v. Blum et al, (D.Md.,  2001-2600 MJG), 317 F.3d 385 (4th Cir. 2003) (copyright infringement, fair use, copyright misuse), 540 US 820 (cert. denied).

Imgarten v.  BellBoy Corp, et al,   (D.Md., 2001, L-00-3178) (trade secret misappropriation)

Entry-Master v. Chamberlain, (D.Md., 2002-CV-1589) (trademark infringement).

Keng’s Firearms Specialties, Inc. v. Ross, (D.D.C., 2004-CV-01836) (patent infringement).

Presto Electric v. Kindt & Seeco, Inc., (D.Pa., 2007-CV-00758) (trademark Infringement).