Summary:In today's knowledge-based economy, your intellectual property is your competitive advantage and it needs to be protected. My guest this week is John Mancini, partner at Mayer Brown and a member of the firm's global intellectual property practice, which was named IP practice group of the year in 2017 and 2020 by Law360. John's practice focuses on litigating copyright, trademark, trade secret, and patent disputes across the country, and he has successfully tried high-profile intellectual property cases as lead council, representing both public and private companies in a wide range of industries. His clients include tech giants like Google, YouTube, Spotify and many others and his contributions to the field have been recognized with many awards and honors including his 2020 induction into The Legal 500 Hall of Fame for trade secret litigation. John and I spoke about IP-related vulnerabilities companies should be aware of, new intellectual property challenges facing businesses in the social media age, and why getting your IP assets figured out should be an early priority for any company.Highlights:John walks us through his path to intellectual property litigation (03:03)John outlines Mayer Brown's practice and history (04:35)Why pre-IPO companies should prioritize protecting their IP rights (06:06)How companies can enforce their IP assets as barriers to entry (09:12)IP vulnerabilities pre-IPO companies should be aware of (11:00)How are social media influencers creating new vulnerabilities for companies they work with? (17:50)John shares some significant cases he's been involved with (19:15)John explains how to approach protecting IP rights on a global scale (20:51)Who does John consider an ideal client? (26:48)Links:ICR TwitterICR LinkedInICR WebsiteJohn Mancini LinkedInJohn Mancini BioMayer Brown LinkedInMayer Brown WebsiteFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.