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Ken Kohn
intelleetu

BILL CARROLL
Special to The Jewish News

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n a Monday, Dr. Kenneth I.
Kohn could be at Rosh
Hanikra in the northwest
corner of Israel, gathering
patent information on a new plant
seedling the kibbutz residents want to
put on the market.
A few days later, he could be at the
University of Manitoba in Canada,
working on a patent for a biotechni-
cal project developed by the school.
By the end of the week, he might
be back at Akiva Hebrew Day School
in Southfield, coaching the boys' or
girls' varsity basketball team.
It's all in a week's work for the
Orthodox Jewish attorney who, from
a modest office on Northwestern
Highway in Farmington Hills, runs an
intellectual property law firm taking
care of about 300 corporate, medical,
educational and individual clients
around the world. The firm grossed
approximately $1.8 million in 1998.
"Intellectual property law"
describes the legal handling of
patents, licenses, copyrights and
trademarks. Kohn & Associates (there
are three other attorneys and a total
staff of 11) specializes in patent appli-
cations in the high-tech fields of med-
icine, chemistry, biotechnology and
computer systems.
The National Institute of Sciences
ranks the firm as one of the world's
top three small companies specializing
in biotechnology, and among the top
12 of any company doing this type of
work. Their rankings are based on
technical expertise and business plan-
ning.
"Patents are regarded as the curren-
cy of technology," said Kohn, "and
our job is to prevent the theft of that
currency. People can come up with
great inventions, but they really can't
afford to produce them without a
patent to protect their rights and
trade secrets. If our client succeeds,
we succeed."

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Among those clients are the
Weizmann Institute of
Science, Harvard University,
Harvard Medical School,
Northwestern University, Tel
Aviv University, Henry Ford
Health Systems, Teleflex Fluid
Systems, Parke-Davis/Warner-
Lambert, and many hospitals,
institutes and colleges.
"We'll patent anything,
short of a human being,"
Kohn said. But he may be
coming close to that. A recent
patent was for research on the
human AT gene by Francis
Collins, a geneticist at Tel Aviv
University. The gene determines the
possible development of breast cancer
in the body, and the project received
worldwide publicity.
Other high-profile patents were for
the improvement of drugs for mental
disorders, epilepsy, general pain and a
DNA testing procedure, all developed
at Northwestern University. A patent
for an orthopedic spinal brace at
Vanderbilt University has resulted in
comfort for many people with back
problems.
The unique Kohn & Associates

Protecting intellectual property

has become big business for a

small local firm. Kohn &

Associates has 300 clients
worldwide, and did $1.8 million

in business in 1998.

law practice covers patents and copy-
rights ranging from these biotechnical
items and cutting-edge scientific pro-
jects to MRI machines, catheters, and
even ironing boards, barbecue grills
and fireplace logs.
Kohn also finds time to prepare
copyrights for the books and manuals
of several rabbis and Jewish scholars,
plus walk-in patent clients. In a way,
this type of work helps keep the 45-
year-old native of the Detroit area
cognizant of his Jewish roots.
He developed a strong interest in
science while attending Oak Park

High School, and the family was affil-
iated with Young Israel of Oak-
Woods. "I always wanted to be a sci-
entist, but jobs were scarce in the
recession of 1979-1980," he recalled,
"so I kept on going to school."
He obtained a bachelor's degree in
zoology from the University of
Michigan; a Ph.D. in pharmacology
from Wayne State University, then a
law degree from Wayne.
Kohn clerked for a while in patent
law, then became an associate in a
larger law firm and a senior partner
for another. He said, "When biotech-
nology started booming in the mid-
1980s, I established a biotech practice
at the latter firm and got immersed in
biological projects, pharmaceuticals
and medical devices. I carried all of
this over into Kohn & Associates
(formed in 1995).
"It was a case of finding a niche of
expertise in the practice of law."
Amassing a global clientle of 300
organizations was not easy. "The only
way to do it was to make personal
contacts ... you practically have to go
door-to-door to tell people who you
are and what you can do for them,"
Kohn said.
"With no advertising involved, you
have to let experience, knowledge and
word-of-mouth take over. We've been
growing gradually, and our revenues
have increased 20 percent per year.
Most important in this growth has
been the prestige and size of our cus-
tomers. "
To meet more prospective clients,
Kohn joined the Association of
University Technology Managers, and
he delivers lectures at association
meetings and other functions, where
he can "get closer to clients and listen
to their needs."
One of Kohn's biggest business
problems is competition from large
patent firms in New York,
Washington, D.C. and the West
Coast. But the central location of his
Michigan firm makes him more
accessible to small and midsize corn-

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