Daniel Dawes

Dan Dawes is a partner at MDAS.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and went on to earn a Masters of Science degree in Physics from the University of Oregon, Eugene, in condensed matter physics.  At Bell Telephone Laboratories, Dan participated on a research team in metallurgical research, exploring the electrical properties of alloys and semiconductors.  Dan then served in the Commissioned Corp. of the United States Public Health Service at the Bureau of Radiological Health as a biomedical engineer.  He worked in a research laboratory with a multidisciplinary group of life and medical scientists, ranging from entomologists, nutritionists, veterinarians, physicians, radiologists, biologists and others.

Dan received a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974.  Dan has worked on a wide variety of intellectual property matters involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, unfair competition, and licensing in both prosecution contexts as well as litigation.  In particular, he prepared and prosecuted a number of patents related to computer and digitally related inventions, including writing the patents for the Intel 8086 and 8087 math chips, which were chosen as the CPU set in the first IBM personal computer, transducers, remittance processing business equipment, data tape recorders, and in-flight projection systems.

As vice president and intellectual property general counsel of Lucasfilm Ltd., Dan was extensively involved in merchandising the Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones series of films under George Lucas.  Duties involved copyright enforcement in the films and licensed goods and establishing, prosecuting and managing an extensive trademark portfolio around the world as well as supporting the licensing efforts in merchandising the film properties.

Dan has worked for a wide variety of clients on a wide variety of technologies, including on helicopter design for Hughes Helicopters and later for McDonald-Douglas, and for Christensen Diamond Tool Company relating to diamond petroleum drill bits and oil well tooling.  Major clients include the University of California, California Institute of Technology, and Pressure Products Medical Supplies Inc. of Santa Barbara.  While again a wide variety of clients and technologies relating to engineering and the physical sciences are served, Dan has established special concentrations in MEMS, nanotechnologies, laser based biomedical imaging and treatments, and biomedical devices.  For example, extensive patent work has been performed in domestic and foreign patenting of the Guglielmi Detachable Coils, a brain aneurysm catheter and implantation system, which has virtually replaced craniotomies as the standard treatment for brain aneurysms.