Mark Melasky & Gulf South Invents: Protecting Intellectual Property

By Jann Darsie

Mark Melasky always seemed to know that he would end up becoming an intellectual property attorney. And the Ella Project is the beneficiary of his expertise for its pro bono patent program, Gulf South Invents. 

 “Even before college,” Melasky said, “I knew that intellectual property was going to be my destiny.”

 Being a successful patent attorney requires a background in engineering or science as well as law. Melasky attended an engineering magnet high school in Houston, and he was selected for a scholarship by a law firm specializing in intellectual property law and then they offered him a summer job. “I was as surprised as anyone when I got picked,” he recalled. While majoring in engineering at Vanderbilt University, he returned to the Houston law firm during the summer and other school breaks.

 When it came time for law school, he settled on Tulane University. “I’d been visiting New Orleans and felt that it had a great life-work balance, not to mention the incredibly rich cultural traditions here,” he said. “It feels like everyone here has a stake in its culture, including me.”

 The Ella Project gave him a greater stake in the city’s culture. He learned about the nonprofit in 2010, when he took an entertainment law class taught by Ella Project co-founder Ashlye Keaton. So when it came to deciding where to spend the 30 hours of volunteer service required by the university, the Ella Project was the perfect choice. 

 Melasky especially enjoyed the Ella Project clients – their ingenuity and creativity. “I was struck by the need out there for legal counsel,” he said.

 After finishing law school, Melasky had thought he would return to Houston, but he enjoyed living in New Orleans so much that he stayed. He joined Intellectual Property Consulting, LLC, a local firm that provides legal counsel to innovators and entrepreneurs. This includes not only patents but copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and more. 

 He stayed in contact with Ashlye Keaton as well as two of his Tulane Law School classmates who serve on the Ella Project board of directors. “I had been wanting to get back involved with the Ella Project, because I think that intellectual property rights are such an economic driver,” said Melasky. But little did he know what was coming his way.

 The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office partners with local providers in the Patent Pro Bono Program to give inventors without financial resources to access legal representation. It has created a nationwide network of small regional and state pro bono patent programs. 

 Pro bono clients in Louisiana were being handled by a nonprofit in Austin, Texas. The U.S. Patent Office decided that Louisiana innovators needed in-state counsel, for Texas is too big and Austin is too far away.

 In 2018 officials asked Gene Meneray, the Ella Project co-founder, to spearhead a program for Louisiana. “I credit Gene Meneray for what the pro bono patent program has become,” Melasky said.

Photo by Liz King

 Meneray called on Melasky to lead the program. He had asked the Ella Project board for suggestions on who could take on this project, and Melasky’s name came up.

 “We really had to build the infrastructure from the ground up,” Melasky said. Each state or regional program is unique, and they customized a program for Louisiana.

 Systems had to be in place for tasks such as communicating with the U.S. Patent Office, client intake, and coordinating with volunteer attorneys. The program launched in 2019, and they began to receive inquiries and applications. Fortunately, just prior to the launch, the U.S. Patent Office hosted a conference, where Meneray and Melasky received valuable guidance. 

 Since its launch, Gulf South Invents has helped dozens of patent seekers who could not otherwise afford legal advice and counsel. The process involves an initial review of an inventor’s application to the program, aiding the inventor with a patentability search, and then matching the person with an attorney to engage in back-and-forth dialogue with the U.S. Patent Office.

 The program, for example, worked with a client from New Orleans on modular dwellings in standard shipping containers. And the pro bono attorneys handled a client from Shreveport who invented a retractable guitar string.

 The U.S. Patent Office was clearly impressed, because in April 2024 officials asked the Ella Project to serve constituents in Alabama and Mississippi, after the organization handling those two states folded. This coincidentally coincided with a merger between Melasky’s firm, Intellectual Property Consulting, LLC, and a law practice in Birmingham, Alabama, creating a direct connection to resources in that state. 

 So the Ella Project’s pro bono patent program, Gulf South Invents, went from nothing in 2018 to now serving three states on the gulf coast. As Melasky said: “it was a really great feeling to have our work recognized and validated by the Patent Office, since we started this from scratch.”

 More information about Gulf South Invents can be found at on the website at https://ellanola.org/for-inventors.