When Samuel Jativa graduates in May, he will sally forth with a quiver full of intellectual property and business skills – from hunting down patent trolls to converting his interest in biomedical science to expertise in the business and legal aspects of commercial scientific research.
Currently, at Unified Patents, where he has been a legal intern since last summer, Jativa performs patent litigation landscape analysis, prior art searches, and constructs claim charts to be used to invalidate bad patents asserted by patent trolls.
"I am enjoying playing a role in the mission to stop patent trolls from asserting bad patents against companies whose products and services benefit the public," he said. "The experience has also showed me that there are different paths in the legal and legal services professions where you don't actually have to practice as a lawyer."
Florida native explores the intersection of medicine and law
"My professor back at the University of Central Florida where I received my undergraduate degree in molecular biology and microbiology suggested patent law as a viable career option for those who did not want to go to medical school or become academic researchers," said Jativa, a native of Altamonte Springs, Florida. "Since then, I had flirted with the idea of patent law as a career and decided a few years ago to finally pull the trigger and go to law school."
Jativa developed a non-viral, polymeric platform for the targeted delivery of nucleic acids to skeletal muscle for therapeutic purposes while a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine during the flirting stage. The journal Molecular Pharmaceutics published his work.
He eventually landed at UM's Office of Technology Transfer, where he researched and drafted memoranda on issues relating to patent law, performed prior art searches, and assisted in drafting licensing agreements.
"The office is responsible for commercializing research products developed by University of Miami researchers," he said. "As such, I was exposed to the intersection of scientific research, business, and law. My experience there only confirmed my interest in pursuing a career in patent law."
Jativa decided on Miami Law because of the relationships he had built while at the technology transfer office and with some of the law faculty, including Professor Andres Sawicki, director of the Business of Innovation, Law, & Technology Concentration, "as well as the opportunity to hone my intellectual property skills in the only USPTO certified law school clinic in Florida," he said.
The 2020 newlywed (he and his wife, Beth, tied the knot as the world went into lockdown in March 2020) sees himself with a future working in patent analytics, post-grant patent litigation support, and intellectual property asset management and raising another generation Floridian. His daughter, Amelia, was born on January 2, 2022.
Jativa will also still be cutting his hair, as he has been doing for over a decade. He insists that "it is a testament to the fact that you can learn to do for yourself almost anything you set your mind to." He will continue to collect Hot Wheels and Power Ranger toys, too. He thrills in the hunt for rare and valuable toys and embraces the nostalgia from the toys of his childhood.
He even proposed to his wife with a collectible Little Mermaid figurine, with the engagement ring hanging from Ariel's arm.
He has been accepted into Miami Law's Startup Clinic for the Spring 2022 semester and thinks it will further harden his options for the future. "I can't wait to get started with helping clients secure protection for their valuable IP," he said.
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