Foley, Two Associates to be Honored for Pro Bono Service

Foley’s Chicago office and associates Roger Rozanski and Joseph Janas will be honored on April 5, 2018, for their contributions last year to the Chicago-Kent Patent Hub, the regional authority for the U.S. Patent Office’s pro bono program, which matches under-resourced inventors in Illinois with volunteer legal assistance from licensed patent attorneys.

Rozanski and Janas are being recognized for contributing more than 50 hours each to the patent hub’s inventors in 2017. The firm is being recognized because its lawyers contributed a total of more than 100 hours to the program last year.

Janas has volunteered a total of 92 hours to the program since its founding in late 2015, including 84.3 hours in the last year alone, helping draft several patent applications, including one for a firearms holster and another for a food grease reduction device.

Janas, whose paying clients are mostly big companies, said he finds it rewarding to give back to low-income inventors who otherwise would not be able to afford top-tier legal representation. Having been involved with the patent hub from its inception (he also serves on its board of advisors), he said it’s been fun watching it grow from an idea into a successful program that has helped a lot of deserving inventors.

Rozanski has contributed nearly 70 hours to the program last year on multiple matters.

“It’s nice to sit down in a room with an inventor one-on-one, to see their passion, help them flesh out an idea and, at the end of the day, help them get a patent on their invention,” he said.