Travis W. Bliss, Ph.D.
Dr. Travis W. Bliss counsels a variety of clients ranging from individual inventors to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in nearly all aspects of intellectual property law. Travis prepares and prosecutes patent applications; litigates patent, trademark, and other IP disputes in federal and state courts; represents clients before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board; counsels clients in a variety of IP issues, including due diligence, FTO, infringement, and patentability; works with clients to develop effective IP monetization strategies; and prepares and negotiates IP licenses.
Whether counseling clients on the most advantageous intellectual property avenues to pursue for a particular technology or counseling clients on the most practical ways to avoid or overcome the intellectual property of competitors, Travis strives to assist his clients from the planning stages all the way through execution to make sure his clients are getting the most out of their intellectual property assets. Travis’s flexibility and adaptability to consider and work in the newest legal proceedings and technologies give value to clients who are looking for optimal solutions specific to their business needs.
From a technology standpoint, Travis’s practice falls largely within the life sciences field, including pharmaceuticals and biologics, diagnostic testing methods/apparatus, and treatment methods. Travis’s practice also includes a large focus on novel plant varieties and transgenic plants in the agriculture, horticulture, and cannabis/hemp industries, including procuring patent and trademark protection for novel varieties and monetizing those IP rights through licensing. His efforts in IP counseling in procurement in the cannabis and hemp space have allowed Travis to be ranked as a “Band 1” attorney in the area of Cannabis Law by Chambers USA. Additionally, Travis was named a 2021 Top Delaware Lawyer by Delaware today and he served as chair of the IP Biotechnology & Life Sciences Practice Group at a large, national firm before joining Panitch Schwarze.
Prior to entering the legal profession, Travis earned both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Delaware, with course work and research that focused on animal and plant genetics, molecular immunology, biotechnology, and bioinformatics. His Ph.D. dissertation addressed gene expression in avian macrophage cells using EST libraries and DNA microarrays, and he also participated in research projects that involved diagnostic testing, pathogen identification, vaccine analysis, and cell culture. These undergraduate and graduate programs gave Travis technical experience in numerous areas of the chemical and biological arts.
In addition to his regular legal work, Travis has spent hundreds of volunteer hours as a pro bono child attorney for the Delaware Office of the Child Advocate.