• Ohio

• Ohio Supreme Court, 1999
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2000

• University of Dayton School of Law, J.D., 1999, magna cum laude
• • Law Review Writer & Web Editor
• National Collegiate Honors Council Semester: A Living Laboratory in Czechoslovakia, at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
• University of Nebraska
• Northern Kentucky University, B.S., 1995
• • Computer Science and International Studies
  • Concentration in Russian Studies
  • National Collegiate Honors

Ria is a patent attorney with a technology focus in telecommunications, billing, and other software-oriented inventions.  Her substantive practice includes prosecution, general software and open source licensing, due diligence reviews for mergers/acquisitions, including the review for a $335 million acquisition, and portfolio management.  She has a B.S. in Computer Science and worked for several years as a programmer before obtaining her juris doctorate and joining Frost Brown Todd in 1999.  She has taught law school courses in Open Source Licensing, Computer & Cyberspace Law and Patent Prosecution History Analysis. 

Ria was elected as President of the Cincinnati Intellectual Property Law Association (CincyIP) for both 2008 and 2009.  She previously served as Vice-President of the organization.  She is also a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Subcommittee on Open Source.

Ria oversaw several pro bono adoption filings through Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor.

Ria also enjoys singing in choirs and is an amateur chess player.  She took first place in the 2009 Cardinal Open Chess Tournament for the U1000 Division.

Ria was a pronouncer for the WCPO Regional Spelling Bee (Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky/Southeast Indiana) (2010-2011).

Experience

9/99-Present  Frost Brown Todd, LLC - Senior Associate & Counsel

• Draft and prosecute patent applications (domestic and foreign) for computerized billing system applications and systems deployed over an Advanced Intelligent Network
• Draft and negotiate software/database licenses (including open source) and consulting agreements
• Design an intellectual property strategy for client with over one billion dollars in revenues/year
• Conduct due diligence reviews fo software licenses and patent portfolios for acquisitions
• Develop/review open source governance plans

Fall 2009 - University of Cincinnati - Adjunct Professor

• Computer & Cyberspace Law

Fall 2009 - University of Dayton - Adjunct Professor

• Open Source Licensing

Spring 2009/2011 - University of Dayton School of Law - Adjunct Professor

• Patent Litigation Capstone

• Cincinnati Bar Association, 1999
• Ohio Bar Association, 1999
• Cincinnati Intellectual Property Law Association (CincyIP), President, 2008, 2009; Vice President 2007
• University of Dayton Program in Law and Technology (PiLT), Advisory Board Member, 2008-present
• Intellectual Property Owners, Member Subcommittee on Open Source, 2007-present
• Speech Technology Corsortium, Board Member & Secretary, 2009, 2010, elected Secretary
• Cincinnati Free & Open Source Software (CinFOSS/CincyFree), Founding Member, 2009
• All Ohio American Institute on Intellectual Property (AOAIOIP), Board Member, 2009, Steering Committee, 2010
• Black Duck Certified Legal Specialist

Taught CLE Seminar:  "From Amazon to Ziarno - What You Need to Know About Computer & Business Method Patents."

Moderated a panel discussion at the July 2008 Quad-City Seminar (Cincinnati, Daylton, Toledo and Columbus) on patent law including Commissioner of Patents John Doll, Judge Avern Cohn (EDMI), Judge Walter Rice (SDOH) and several local practitioners.

2008 IMI Security Symposium & Expo, Northern Kentucky University, Secure Open Source - Legally Speaking, Reality or Oxymoron? Oct. 3, 2008.

Dayton Intellectual Property Law Association, presentation on Risk Management in Open Source issues, Dec. 2008.

Guest Lecturer: Northern Kentucky University's Computer Science Program (CIT 140 003 Introduction to Computer Information Technology and CSC 640 001 Advanced Software Engineering) on Risk Managment in Open Source, Feb. 2009.

Presenter: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) at University of Cincinnati, "Risk Management in Open Source", Feb. 24, 2009.

Presenter: Cincinnati Linux User's Group, "Risk Management in Open Source", Feb. 29, 2009.

Panelist: Voice Search 2009 (San Diego) for "The Role of Patents in Speech Technology and Business Decisions" - March 4, 2009.

Panelist: 2009 IP Law of Computers and Cyberspace at the University of Dayton on In re Bilski.

Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, Vol. 13, No. 9 (Sept. 2001), "The Copyrightability of Menu Structures" (pp. 7-17) (Aspen Law & Business a Division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.)