Belle Borovik

Belle Borovik is a trained neuroscientist with extensive experience in intellectual property law. As a key member of the Robins Kaplan Intellectual Property and Technology Group, Belle represents clients in a broad range of intellectual property matters, focusing on the unique challenges at the intersection of frontier technologies and intellectual property law.

With significant experience in strategic counseling and portfolio management, Belle advises companies and their executives on how to best acquire, develop, monetize, and protect their intellectual property to achieve their business objectives. Belle has guided clients in matters involving trademark and brand protection, including anti-counterfeiting initiatives and domain name disputes, patent and copyright litigation, design rights, trade secrets, and licensing.

Belle’s practice includes:

• Representing clients in litigation involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and advertising claims in a variety of industries, including artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, consumer goods, electronics, food and beverage, apparel, media, cannabis, mobile device, pharmaceutical, enterprise software, and telecommunications. Belle handles cases in the U.S. federal courts, before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and advocates for clients in Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP) proceedings.
• Developing and implementing global brand protection strategies for companies ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations. Belle regularly advises clients in devising innovative solutions to protect their brands and content, and their company’s reputation in the U.S. and worldwide.
• Maximizing the commercial potential of her clients' valuable intellectual assets, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Through meticulous negotiations and tailored transactions, Belle empowers organizations to monetize their proprietary innovations, brands, and creative works, extracting optimal value from their intellectual property portfolios. Her adeptness in navigating the complexities of global licensing landscapes enables clients to capitalize on their intellectual capital effectively.

Prior to joining Robins Kaplan, Belle served as Head of Intellectual Property and Associate General Counsel to a leading blockchain technology company for a number of years. In this role, Belle managed, grew, and monetized the company’s intellectual property portfolio, and led enforcement efforts in key markets around the world. Belle provided strategic guidance on the integration of open-source components into proprietary systems, ensuring that the company’s software development practices met all legal and regulatory standards. Belle worked closely with the company’s engineering and product teams to mitigate the potential risks associated with the use and distribution of open-source software, protecting innovations while facilitating the secure and legal sharing and commercialization of blockchain technologies.

Belle holds a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, a PhD in Neuroscience from Lomonosov University, and a B.A. in Psychology and Theology from the University of San Francisco.

Prior to attending law school, Belle worked as a neuroscientist, studying demyelination and neurogenesis. Capitalizing on her experience with writing grants as a scientist, Belle works as a volunteer to secure grants from the National Science Foundation for elementary and middle schools.

In her spare time, Belle enjoys being in nature with her family, running long-distance, and reading sci-fi novels.

Education

• University of San Francisco School of Law, cum laude, with a Certificate in Intellectual Property & Technology Law (2020)
• Lomonosov University, Doctor of Philosophy in Biology (Emphasis in Neuroscience) (2009)
• University of San Francisco, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Theology (2001)

Speeches

• Pulp or Fiction: Are NFTs Changing Intellectual Property Norms?
  Blockchain Law for Social Good Center Conference (November 2022)

Articles

• “Impact on Copyright Denial on Future AI-Generated Art Cases, Law360 (2023)
• “Rothschild Suffered a Legal Defeat – Did the Rest of the NFT Ecosystem?,” Chia Network Blog (2023)
• “Cannabis Branding: On the Edge of the Metaverse,” INCBA Cannabis Law Blog (2021)
• “Zombie (Trademarks) From Outer Space,” 24 Intell. Prop. & Tech. L. J. 2, 323 (2020)