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Christopher Carani draws on his diverse experience to manage portfolios and create strategies that are both holistic and targeted. “His attention to detail is outstanding and he adds a great deal of value to design portfolios.”
Christopher V Carani is a partner at Chicago-based IP law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy Ltd. He practises in all areas of intellectual property, with a particular emphasis on design law, focusing on the protection of the appearance and configuration of consumer products using a strategic combination of design rights, utility patents, trade dress and copyrights.
He is widely recognised as a leading authority in the field of design law with extensive experience litigating design law cases, including high-profile matters before US district courts, the Federal Circuit, the International Trade Commission and the US Supreme Court. In 2023, Mr. Carani successfully argued a case of first impression before the Federal Circuit on behalf of Columbia Sportswear, whereby the court adopted the legal positions espoused by Mr. Carani thereby reshaping the test for design patent infringement. In 2023, Mr. Carani also represented the American Intellectual Property Law Association as an amicus curiae in LKQ v. General Motors, which is a rare en banc case currently pending before the Federal Circuit.
Some of the world’s most design-centric companies have sought out Mr Carani’s strategic insights into creating valuable design right portfolios, including the top filer of US design patents. IAM Patent 1000 has recognised Mr Carani as one of the United States’ “pre-eminent design law experts”.
Mr Carani is current chair of the AIPPI Committee on Designs and past chair of both the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the American Bar Association Design Rights Committees.
His book, Design Rights: Functionality and Scope of Protection, published by Wolters Kluwer NV, is the seminal work on these contentious and decisive issues. The second edition of the book was released in early 2022.
Before joining McAndrews, Mr Carani served as a law clerk to Rebecca R Pallmeyer at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned his BS in engineering from Marquette University and a JD from the University of Chicago. He is licensed to practise before the USPTO.