about the abuses and inequities inherent in the prison-for-profit industry and made a commitment to act. Inspired by cases like Brown v. Board of Education, the organization plans to file other cases in federal courts across the country, hoping that at least one of the cases reaches the United States Supreme Court for a ruling that profiting off the dignity of those incarcerated after committing crimes violates the constitution. Fredrikson’s legal team includes Lousene Hoppe, Jacob Baer, Jacob Levine and Charles Urena with assistance from Aron Frakes and summer associate Emani Marshall-Loving. “To treat human beings like chattel and to reduce them to “inventory,” no matter what wrongs they have committed in their past, is an affront to the principle of basic human dignity that underlies the bill of rights and the United States Constitution.” – Lousene Hoppe
PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
MALISSA ENG
Several years ago, the United States Patent & Trademark Office began a pro bono project to assist low-income inventors with filing patent applications. The local project is administered by LegalCORPs, a nonprofit that matches volunteer lawyers to those in need. This past year, Malissa Eng assisted a client seeking help with a U.S. patent application for his invention for a vehicular rearview mirror. He had designed a way to ensure that the mirror does not become an obstacle to a person’s vision while driving. After agreeing to handle prosecution for that application, Malissa learned that the client had not only one patent application, but five others, all currently pending. Three of those pending applications related to his mirror invention; the other three related to a posture-improving garment. Malissa recruited others in the firm’s Patents Group, including paralegal Sarah Munson and patent agent 28
