Areas of Practice
Education
- The University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2002
- Tulane University, M.S.E., 1997
- Tulane University, B.S.E., 1996, summa cum laude; Departmental Honors
Bar Admissions
- Louisiana, 2006
- New York, 2003
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2005
Court Admissions
- Fed. Cir., 2005
- S.D.N.Y., 2004
- 5th Cir., 2006
- E.D. La., 2006
- M.D. La., 2006
- W.D. La., 2006
Amelia Smith Rinehart, a member of the firm’s Business & Finance and Business & Commercial Litigation practice groups, engages primarily in the area of intellectual property law. She is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and admitted to practice in the states of New York and Louisiana. As one of Jones Walker’s Intellectual Property practitioners, Ms. Rinehart’s work encompasses all aspects of intellectual property protection and promotion for clients, as well as defense of clients against intellectual property claims by others. Representative engagements include patentability opinions, patent prosecution involving nanotechnologies, micro-sensing devices, medical diagnostic methods, sporting equipment, and industrial containment systems; patent enforcement and infringement litigation; patent invalidity investigations, related litigation and reexamination practice; trademark and service mark opinions, registration, and enforcement; prosecution and defense of trademark infringement actions; copyright registration and enforcement; prosecution and defense of copyright infringement actions; patent, trademark and copyright licensing agreements; trade secret protection and enforcement; and related transactional work, including the preparation of confidentiality agreements, ownership agreements, and joint venture agreements.
Ms. Rinehart is a member of the Board of Directors of The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Baton Rouge, and a member of Forum 35, a non-profit organization devoted to improving the Baton Rouge community. In addition to her primary practice, Ms. Rinehart also engages in pro bono work in conjunction with the Baton Rouge Bar Association.
Ms. Rinehart was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and attended Tulane University, where she obtained B.S.E. and M.S.E. degrees in Biomedical Engineering in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Her theses focused on the application of finite element analysis to orthopedic applications such as bone remodeling under stresses and strains. Upon graduation, Ms. Rinehart conducted research at Rice University involving bone cell responses to induced stress and worked at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, developing experimental protocols and associated hardware for use by astronauts to gather life sciences data while in space.
Ms. Rinehart received her law degree in 2002 from the University of Chicago, where she was a Nierman Scholar for three years. In the summer of 2000, Ms. Rinehart clerked at the Office of General Counsel for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a division of the Department of Commerce. From 2002–2005, Ms. Rinehart was an intellectual property associate with the New York office of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP, a San Francisco firm. At Orrick, Ms. Rinehart was involved in several complex litigations involving patent infringement, participating at the trial level in federal district courts. Notable technologies included transgenic plants, portable ultrasound devices, mechanical devices, and the design and manufacture of printed circuit boards. Ms. Rinehart also regularly handled invalidity and infringement opinions considering patents in a variety of fields, including design patents, and actively practiced pro bono in the field of family law.
News
- Jones Walker Intellectual Property Associate Passes U.S. Patent Bar Exam
- Smith Joins Jones Walker's Intellectual Property Practice
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Louisiana State Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
