Margaret (“Meg”) A. Boulware

Practice Areas

Intellectual Property

Practice Focus

Patent practice with emphasis on chemistry and biotechnology; contested trademark matters and global portfolio advice and intellectual property litigation.

Practice Description

In 2010, Ms. Boulware started a woman-owned boutique firm building on her years of experience in international and domestic IP work. She tried the first validity and infringement arbitration of a U.S. patent, which case was tried before the International Chamber of Commerce. She has represented clients in trademark infringement cases including over 100 cases before federal courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition to litigation experience, Ms. Boulware has prosecuted patents in chemical, mechanical and biotech areas. She procured pioneer patents on cattle cloning in the U.S. Ms. Boulware supervises international trademark portfolios and advises on international market strategies for clients including Fortune 500 companies. Meg was the first woman president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and is active in national and international IP associations.

Awards and Honors

In 2012 Ms. Boulware received the first ever Americas Women in Business Law Award for Best in Patent (www.expertguides.com). Since 2005, Ms. Boulware has been included in Chambers USA – Leaders in their Field, included in The Best Lawyers in America for Intellectual Property in IP Law & Business since 2006, and the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America for the past 15 years. In addition, she has been recognized by The State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Section Tom Arnold Lifetime Achievement Award, Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Hall of Fame and awarded the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association Diversity Award . She is active in community activities and is a Trustee of the Houston Grand Opera and serves on the Board of the Rutherford B. H. Yates Museums, Inc., dedicated to preserving Houston’s Freedmens Town historic buildings and heritage.

Professional Affiliations

• BioHouston, Inc., Board Member
• International Trademark Association – Law Firm Management Committee
• American Intellectual Property Law Association, past President Patent Public Advisory Committee, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, appointed by the Secretary of Commerce as inaugural Chair - 1999-2002
• State Bar of Texas, Intellectual Property Section, past Chair
• Houston Intellectual Property Law Association, past President
• Advisory Board of the University of Houston Law Center Intellectual Property Law Program, Founding Chair
• Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
• Houston Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
• National Coordinator of the Bicentennial Celebration of the Patent and Copyright Laws 1990 in Washington, D.C. while serving as a - Board member of the Foundation for a Creative America

Bar Admittance

• Texas
• United States Patent and Trademark Office

Education

• B.S., University of Georgia
• M.S., Clemson University
• J.D., University of Houston Law Center

Publications, Presentations & Articles

• Yearly Panel Moderator Rice Alliance/BioHouston Texas Life Sciences Forum
• “Best Practices for Serving Clients During Crisis - from Pandemic to Hurricane” 36th Annual HIPLA/UH IPIL Fall IP Institute October 2020
• “Interview”: Randi Karpinia, Meg Boulware and the AIPLA Women in IP Law Committee, Managing Intellectual Property, The Global IP Resource, December 2016.
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Mock Trial Participant State Bar of Texas Advanced Intellectual Property Law February 18, 2016.
• “Hurricane Alice and Patent Prosecution” State Bar of Texas, Advanced Intellectual Property Law, March 19, 2015.
• “Branding Strategies For New Companies”, State Bar of Texas, June 27, 2014 “For the New Company on the Block: How Cool Do You Want to Be?”, American Intellectual Property Law Association Mid-Winter Institute, January 2014.
• “Strategic Use of Post Grant Proceedings Under the AIA”, State Bar of Texas, Advanced Intellectual Property Law February 2013.
• “What to do about Twitter Social Media Sites Upsetting Clients”, USC Gould School of Law 2012 Institute for Corporate Counsel; December 2012; American Intellectual Property Law Association Spring Meeting, May 2012
• “The Legal Aspects of Performing Copyrighted Music” BMI
• “Recent Decisions Affecting Patent Law” Intellectual Property Owners Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, September 2010
• “Emerging Protection for Non-Traditional Trademarks: Product Packaging and Design,”Aspatore Books Inside the Minds: Recent Trends in Trademark Protection – Leading Lawyers on Analyzing Recent Decisions and Adapting to Evolution in Trademark Law, October 2009.
• “Challenging Licensed Intellectual Property Rights Under U.S. and European Laws – The U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Principle of Licensee Estoppel,” International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law, Vol. 38, pages 757-880, November, 2007
• “Partnering With Big Pharma…Tips From The Inside,” BioHouston, Inc., Houston, Texas, August 30, 2006
• “A Tale of Two Roles: Functionality Analysis of Marks,” State Bar of Texas, 18th Annual Intellectual Property Law Course, Austin, Texas, March 2005.
• “Patent Quality,” Intellectual Property Owner’s Association, Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, California, September 2002
• “Patent Public Advisory Committee Report on Patent and Trademark Office,” Texas Technology Conference, The Woodlands, Texas, January 2001
• “Privatization of the Internet and Intellectual Property Considerations,” International Association of Defense Counsel Midyear Meeting, Palm Springs, California, January 2001
• “Non-Statutory Defenses, Inequitable Conduct and Rule 11,” Practicing Law Institute Patent Litigation 2000, New York, New York, October 2000
• “E-Commerce and Privatization of the Internet,” International Paper Customer Counsel Council Meeting, Palm Harbor, Florida, March 15-17, 2000
• “Inequitable Conduct, Laches and Other Nonstatutory Defenses,” Practicing Law Institute Patent Litigation 1999, New York, New York, November 1999
• “Determining the Probability of Litigation Outcome: Risk Analysis and Other Case Management Techniques,” The 11th National Conference for Women Corporate Counsel, Washington, D.C., 1999
• “Use of Affidavits and Data in Patent Prosecution,” ABA Section of Intellectual Property, Arlington, Virginia, 1997
• “International Intellectual Property and Special Considerations,” State Bar of Texas Professional Development, Austin, Texas, March 1997
• “An Overview of Intellectual Property Rights Abroad,” Hou. J. Int’l. L., Vol. 16, No. 3, Spring 1994
• “Technology Transfer and Protection in Mexico – Then (1980s) and Now (1990s),” State Bar of Texas Professional Development Program, Intellectual Property Law 1992, Austin, Texas, February 1992
• “Protecting Your Client’s Intellectual Properties Abroad,” State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1992
• “Opinions of Counsel in Patent Litigation,” Practicing Law Institute, New York, New York, 1990
• “Foreign Patents,” ALI-ABA Securing and Enforcing Patent Rights, Washington, D.C., 1990
• “Alternative Dispute Resolution,” 5th Annual Intellectual Property Law Institute, Sponsored by the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association, Houston, Texas, 1989
• “Avoiding Inequitable Conduct in Chemical and Biotech Applications,” American Intellectual Property Law Association, Basic Chemical and Biotechnology Practice Seminar, San Francisco, California and Washington, D.C., 1988
• “Issues of Fraud, Inequitable Conduct and Willful Infringement in Cases Before the Courts and the PTO,” Intellectual Property Symposia, Marco Island, Florida, 1988
• “Issues of Fraud, Inequitable Conduct and Willful Infringement in Cases Before the Courts and the PTO,” American Bar Association, Arlington, Virginia, 1987
• “Using Data and Affidavits in the PTO – Avoiding Inequitable Conduct”, Houston Intellectual Property Law Association and the State Bar of Texas, The Woodlands, Texas, 1986
• “Avoiding Inequitable Conduct: Proper Use of Data and Affidavits and a Review of Fraud Under the CAFC,” American Intellectual Property Law Association, Washington, D.C., 1986
• “Use of Affidavits and Duty of Candor,” American Intellectual Property Law Association, Chemical Practice Basics Seminar, Chicago, Illinois, 1986
• “Candor in Prosecution,” Monograph, Editor and Contributor, American Intellectual Property Law Association, 1985