Tara A. Kastelic

Tara assists clients with the following:

• Counseling to effectively protect and enforce intellectual property
• Conducting right-to-use and non-infringement analyses and preparing opinions
• Conducting patentability analyses and preparing opinions
• Preparing, filing, and prosecuting patent, trademark, and copyright applications
• Maintaining and enforcing patents and trademark registrations
• Preparing cease and desist letters and responses

Tara is a member of the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association (CIPLA), where she has served in a variety of leadership roles in her more than 30 years of involvement, including president, vice president, director, and board member. She is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Since 2008, she has been a co-chair of the All Ohio Annual Institute on Intellectual Property (AOAIOIP) and, since 1999, she has been a member of the planning committee for the AOAIOIP.

Tara previously completed the National Conference for Community and Justice’s (NCCJ) Lead Diversity program. NCCJ is a social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures.

In 2013, she was named a "Woman of Professional Excellence" by the YWCA of Greater Cleveland.

Tara was an Associate with Calfee from 1991 to 1993, before joining the law firm of Seed & Berry in Seattle, Washington in 1994. She returned to Calfee in 1995, and was elected Partner in 2002.

Tara earned her J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the University of Toledo College of Law, where she served as editor of the Law Review. She earned her B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, cum laude, from the University of Toledo College of Engineering.

Honors & Recognitions

• “Woman of Professional Excellence” award, YWCA of Greater Cleveland (2013)

Education

J.D., magna cum laude, University of Toledo College of Law, 1991

B.S., Computer Science and Engineering, cum laude, University of Toledo College of Engineering, 1988

Experience

• Serve as primary IP counsel for a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 manufacturing company and its operating companies with regard to IP clearance and right-to-use and non-infringement analyses and opinions. With regard to procurement, we provide patentability and registrability analyses and opinions. We also prepare, file, and prosecute patent and trademark applications. We also are and have been involved as counsel on several IP litigations for the company. (2024)
• Serve as primary IP counsel for a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 manufacturing company and its operating companies. With regard to clearance, we provide right-to-use and non-infringement analyses and opinions. With regard to procurement, we provide patentability and registrability analyses and opinions. We also prepare, file, and prosecute patent and trademark applications. (2024)

Professional & Community

• Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association, Member, Past President and Past Board Member

• All Ohio Annual Institute on Intellectual Property, Co-Chair, Planning Committee Member

• American Intellectual Property Law Association, Member