profile

Tracy Jong is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (Registration No.: 56105), the Western District and Southern District of New York (federal court) and the State Bar of New York. In addition to a doctorate of law, Tracy has scientific and technical training in the chemical arts as well as many years of private legal practice and government experience. Tracy is active in all two core practice areas of the firm: Intellectual Property and Restaurant, Winery & Liquor Law.

Intellectual Property

Tracy concentrates her practice on client counseling, US and foreign patent and trademark preparation and prosecution, copyright procurement, licensing and technology transfer and exploitation. With her network of specialists and patent agents, she is able to serve inventors in a wide variety of disciplines and technical arts. As an experienced IP attorney, Tracy works with clients to create a protection strategy that makes the most of their money.

Tracy represents individuals, businesses and not-for-profits in wide variety of technology protection subject matter – licensing, technology transfer, confidentiality, non-competes, joint ventures, and other agreements; trade secret protection strategies; IP inventories and organizational IP policies; copyright registration; technology-related consulting and strategy development (“cradle to grave”) for start-ups, entrepreneurs, students, faculty and small to mid-sized businesses to commercialize and protect ideas; and pre-litigation IP enforcement.

Partnering with clients in decision making process and educating them about legal options is Tracy’s private practice business model. She is actively involved in educating laypersons, inventors, consultants and other attorneys about issues in patent and trademark law through several bar associations and professional organizations, the Rochester Public Library (a local USPTO Depository Library), other local libraries, and as a business accelerator speaker and local college and high school class and event speaker. Tracy is an instructor and author for PDHengineer, which provides online continuing education courses for professional engineers in several areas of patent and IP law.

Restaurant, Winery & Liquor Law

By serving restaurant, winery and microbrewery owners, Tracy marries her passion for good food and wine with her commitment to educating business owners to make informed, cost-effective decisions and strategies. Tracy has previous experience in management consulting for Fortune 500 companies at Moran, Stahl & Boyer in midtown Manhattan and managing a public power company and municipal government in western New York. Tracy is able to draw from these experiences when working with new business owners to create strong, stable business practices that lead to success. She brings practical solutions to challenges that face these business owners. By understanding the industry dynamics, creative approaches to both common and unique situations are crafted. Tracy helps entrepreneurial spirits enter this new industry and business owners to maximize their return when they sell.

Growing up in an agricultural community, Tracy understands some of the issues facing agricultural-based businesses – seasonal economics, immigration issues, multi-generation family-owned business entities, branding protection, land use regulations and food and alcohol regulations. Blended with tourism and alcoholic beverage regulation, businesses like wineries can have complex issues that require a multi-faceted expertise.

Food and beverage businesses’ largest asset is generally their good will and trade secrets – their good reputation and earning potential. With an expertise in intellectual property, Tracy can help these businesses to protect their brand, their trade secrets and their competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is the key to building long-term equity value in the business.

The TTB and New York State Liquor Authority can be complex agencies to navigate. Tracy assists businesses in the licensing and renewal process, labeling and federal licensing issues, and representing them in violations/suspension cases before the State Liquor Authority.

Tracy is active in the legal and greater Rochester communities. She is a regular presenter at numerous Bar Association seminars on patent and intellectual property law, including the recent America Invents Act and its impact on the U.S. patent application process. She has also offered intellectual property-related courses through Rochester Public Library, Rochester Info-Courses and other venues to provide useful information to the general public interested in protecting the assets. Tracy has written several PDH courses on topics such as patent searches, strategies with prior art, and the new patent laws.

Tracy is also an active member of the American, New York, and Monroe County Bar Associations, the Rochester Professional Consultants Group, the Greater Rochester Area Women’s Bar Association, and the Rochester Intellectual Property Law Association. Her current volunteer work aids three Rochester area not for profit organizations: Rochester Greenovation, Invention Convention and E2 Edible Expo. She is also active on the Parent Board of Fallone’s Fun Time Center.

With a practice focused on independent and small businesses, Tracy strives to develop practical and cost-effective strategies based on the business objectives of her clients. She believes that information is power and that informed decisions can only be made when you have all of the useful information available. Clients find Tracy’s down-to-earth style opens communication and helps understand the complex legal issues involved in their endeavors. Tracy enjoys seeing her clients’ ideas realized. In a very real sense, the success of her clients is like her own success!