RFID Law Blog

Doug Farry is a Managing Director with the Government Affairs practice and Chair of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) practice of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.

As chair of the RFID practice, Doug works with the firm's legal teams to provide clients with strategic business and government affairs advice related to RFID creation, development, procurement, use and application. As part of this effort, Doug spearheaded the launch of the McKenna Long & Aldridge sponsored RFID blog for which he serves as the lead correspondent.

In his role with the Government Affairs practice, Doug provides strategic and tactical support for clients before the US House of Representatives, Senate and White House primarily on technology and telecommunications policy. He also focuses on financial services, energy and tax issues.

Previously, Doug served for five years as Senior Policy Advisor to House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX). During this time he managed all legislative activity through the US House of Representatives in coordination with the Senate leadership and the White House Legislative Affairs office. He also created what became known as the e-Contract with High Tech America, which shaped how Congress reviews and legislates issues affecting the IT industry. Much of that original language became the first technology-related position written for the 2000 Republican Party Platform.

Doug has provided counsel on how to communicate complicated and technical public policy issues to the public on such topics as broadband, biotechnology, spectrum reform and privacy. He managed final conference negotiations on major legislation including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (H-1B Visa bill) and the Internet Tax Freedom Act. He also participated in final conference negotiations on major legislation including the USA PATRIOT Act, and the Homeland Security Act.

Publications

-"Pay Attention! Ignoring What the Government Does in RFID is Like Being in the Lumber Business and Dismissing Home Depot," RFID Journal, July/August 2006.

-"Congress Enacts Substantial Liability Protections for Public Health Emergencies," Washington Legal Foundation Legal Opinion Letter, February 10, 2006 (Co-authored with John Clerici and Frank Rapoport)

Prior to joining McKenna Long & Aldridge's Intellectual Property Practice Group, Rel S. Ambrozy served as in-house counsel for a high-tech start-up corporation. Prior to working at the start-up, Rel exclusively practiced in the field of intellectual property law. Although he specializes in patent and trade secret litigation, he routinely prosecutes patents, drafts patent opinions, licensing agreements and performs due diligence investigations.

Rel's patent litigation expertise begins with the due diligence investigations necessary before filing or answering a complaint, and carries through to trial. Rel has been intimately involved in numerous patent litigations, participating and/or leading the written and oral discovery process, motions practice and actual trial of cases both before a jury as well as the bench. Moreover, Rel has worked closely with foreign counsel in several countries on various co-pending patent litigations. His close cooperation with counsel in Europe, Taiwan, Japan and Korea is essential to ensure consistency between the simultaneous litigations, as well as to comply with all applicable foreign practice requirements.

Given Rel's broad educational background and work experience, he is proficient in technical areas ranging from the electrical arts including cellular telephony, satellite communication, Internet applications and medical devices to the biological arts including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and bioinformatics.

Prior to attending law school, Rel worked with BDM International, consulting with the U.S. government and Department of Defense on various projects. For example, his involvement with the Department of Defense included developing software to aid in the licensing of Star Wars technology from the military to the private sector. He also aided in the management of the Military Critical Technology List program.

While receiving his Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami, Rel researched the software and hardware components for various heart pacemaker systems. And for his Master's Thesis, he developed a rule-based expert system that automated the analysis of the functioning of pacemakers.

Rel currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Patent Strategy & Management journal and has authored litigation related articles including, "How to Proceed With Patent Litigation in the Court of Federal Claims."

John Clerici is a Partner in the firm's government contracts practice and government affairs group. John's practice centers on working with new entrants to the government marketplace and existing government contractors to develop effective government affairs strategies for selling goods and services to the Federal, state and local governments. These strategies involve all aspects of government affairs, including providing targeted legislative and regulatory solutions, public relations strategies, and legal advice regarding appropriate contract vehicles and corporate structures to maximize business opportunities. In addition, John is a recognized expert on the topic of liability reform policy. John's practice focuses chiefly on Homeland Security, and in particular, the policy and legislative aspects of how the government procures anti-terrorism technology from the private sector.

John has extensive experience advising clients engaged in public/private partnerships with the Federal government, including representing one of the largest and most successful military housing privatization contractors in the nation. John has also represented a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients to impact significantly the legislation implementing Project BioShield, President Bush's initiative to promote and fund the development of biomedical countermeasures. He has negotiated several contracts for clients selling stockpiles of countermeasures to the Federal government, including several awards made under Project Bioshield.

John was instrumental in developing the legislative strategy and drafting key provisions of the SAFETY Act, a major component of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and in developing the Act's implementing regulations. John has testified on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before the U.S. House of Representatives on the SAFETY Act's implementation and has represented a number of entities that have successfully received SAFETY Act certification. In 2005, John played a substantial role in the drafting and passage of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), landmark legislation that provides substantial liability protections for makers and distributors of pandemic, epidemic, and bio-terrorism countermeasures. John testified as an expert in support of this legislation on four occasions before the United States Senate Appropriations Committee, HELP Committee, and Judiciary Committee. John's expertise in the area of biodefense has been recognized by leading news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the Associated Press, the Boston Globe, and The Hill. He has also appeared live on the Fox News Channel as a bioterrorism expert.

John's political involvement spans more than a decade, having worked on campaigns for the United States Senate, House of Representatives, and state offices. In 2001, John was a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. John was elected as a member of the Virginia delegation to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City that re-nominated President George W. Bush.

Prior to joining the firm, John was a judge advocate with the U.S. Air Force where, among other assignments, he advised the Air Force Research Laboratory on the procurement of technology from research institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. John has appeared as a military law analyst for the Fox News Channel and MSNBC before national audiences.

Mary Ellen Fraser is a member of the Government Contracts practice. She also works closely with the Government Affairs and International practices . Mary Ellen has top secret and SCI security clearance.

Prior to joining the firm, Mary Ellen acted as counsel to the House Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives. As counsel, Mary Ellen had oversight on matters related to procurement policy and management, environmental policy, and civilian policy within the Department of Defense. She was the senior staff person for the readiness subcommittee where she had oversight over $130 billion of operations and maintenance funds for DoD, along with all policy matters related to training and equipping military troops. She traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan frequently.

Her area of expertise is compliance with the Buy American Act, the Berry Amendment and all other domestic source restrictions.

Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Mary Ellen worked as an attorney within the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Navy. From 1991 to 1996 she worked as a procurement attorney for the Office of Naval Research where she worked on qui tam lawsuits. From 1996 to 1999 she worked for the Secretary of Navy in Office of Legislative Affairs. While working for the Navy, Mary Ellen received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Superior Civilian Service Award.

Mary Ellen graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in 1991, where she was a member of the National Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy. She received a B.S. in Biology from Boston College in 1987.

Dan Caprio is a strategic advisor and an independent consultant to MLA's RFID practice. He brings nearly 25 years of practical policy experience to issues involving the convergence of internet, telecommunications and technology policy including privacy, cyber security, innovation, and radio frequency identification (RFID). From 2004-2006 Dan served as Chief Privacy Officer for the Department of Commerce, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, and Acting Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy where he advised the Under Secretary for Technology, the Secretary of Commerce, and the White House on technology policy issues and privacy protection in the digital age. He testified before the European Commission on RFID in 2006 and 2007.

While at the Department of Commerce, Caprio oversaw all departmental activities related to the development and implementation of federal privacy laws, policies, and practices. He served as Chairman of the Department of Commerce RFID working group and Co-Chairman of the Federal RFID interagency working group. He has been a frequent speaker on RFID at the OECD and APEC.

Mike Burbach is a Research Analyst with the Business Strategies team at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.

Mike helps develop and evaluate research in emerging industries, like RFID, for the attorneys and non-attorney professionals at the firm. He updates the RFID Law Blog with the thoughts and analysis of the RFID team in addition to researching and posting weekly news alerts.

Prior to joining the firm, Mike worked in Hanoi, Vietnam on IT-related projects funded by Microsoft, USAID, Qualcomm, World Bank and Hewlett Packard.

Mike has a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the College of William and Mary.