Assistant Professor of Law

Mark McKenna came to the School of Law in 2003 after several years of experience litigating trademark and copyright infringement cases at Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson in Chicago. About half the cases he litigated were related to the Internet and other computer technology. He also drafted and negotiated intellectual property and software licenses and counseled clients on worldwide intellectual property issues.

Professor McKenna was drawn to academia by the opportunity to explore and develop an area of the law he says people think about or experience frequently.

“You can’t walk down the street without seeing intellectual property in action,” he says. “In the commercialized society we live in, intangible assets are becoming as important as any other type of asset.”

Currently, he is focused on the philosophy of protecting of certain types of intellectual property. He examines the source of our belief that intellectual assets deserve protection and analyzes whether current legal rules reflect the theory of protection.

“I think much of what has driven the growth in intellectual property is the increasing opportunity for firms to market intangible objects in new ways,” Professor McKenna says. “Once the law decides it’s going to protect something it becomes a commodity and once it becomes a commodity, people feel as though they have to ascribe different values to it and different kinds of protection.”

Professor McKenna is also exploring the protection of symbols in the trademark world. He says conventional wisdom holds that the law protects trademarks because of a concern about consumer confusion. “My belief is that it’s never been about consumer confusion for its own sake,” he says. “It’s been about companies protecting an interest in appropriately garnered audiences of consumers, and confusion is only one way in which that interest can be affected.”

Professor McKenna earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law where he volunteered at the UVA Domestic Violence Project and at Charlottesville Albemarle Legal Aid. He was a member of the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law.