Mila Federis

Mila Federis is our exclusively recommended Trademark Law expert in the Philippines on the Advisory Excellence website. If you need assistance in this area, please contact Mila directly using the contact details listed above.

Ms. Federis is the co-founder and managing partner of Federis & Associates Law Office, a boutique law firm. Federis & Associates is one of just a handful of Philippine law firms whose practice is exclusively focused on IP law.

Ms. Federis works with clients from a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, hotel, leisure, electronics, automotive, telecommunications and IT. Her extensive experience in an IP-focused practice involves copyright, trademark and design prosecution, enforcement, licensing, advertising and privacy issues. She manages a range of trademark work, from clearance to prosecution and maintenance. Her enforcement work includes cease and desist letter campaigns, raids, coordination with government officials and court actions.

Ms. Federis began her IP career during her first job after law school. At that firm, she handled a large portfolio of trademark and patent applications. She also prepared pleadings and memoranda in trademark oppositions, interference, cancellations, unfair competition and trademark infringement actions. Furthermore, Ms. Federis collected and presented evidence in cases, prepared complaints and affidavits for search warrant applications and coordinated with criminal enforcement agents in raids against counterfeiters.

Her initial training in IP was supplemented by several years of experience working in a law firm in the United States with more than 120 lawyers. She managed the filing of trademark applications with the US Patents & Trademarks Office (USPTO). She also handled and coordinated applications filed in foreign jurisdictions, supervised trademark disputes in different countries, prepared and filed post-registration maintenance Affidavits of Use with the USPTO.

Ms. Federis is involved in committee work for professional organisations. She organised a roundtable conference for the International Trademark Association (INTA), moderated an INTA conference panel discussion and represented INTA at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation IP Rights Experts’ Group consultation. She is a regular contributor to the Philippines section in INTA publications: Anti-Counterfeiting in Asia and the Pacific Rim, the International Oppositions Guide, Country Guides and the Madrid Practitioner’s Guide. Ms. Federis is also the regular contributor to the Getting the Deal Through: Patents Edition and Getting the Deal Through: Trademarks Edition.

In addition to her professional activities, Ms. Federis devotes time for pro-bono cases. She acted as defence counsel for students accused in anti-subversion cases and was defence counsel for seven women accused in a criminal case for malicious mischief. This case was filed by a prominent political family who illegally constructed fish pens in a lake that was declared by the government as a fish sanctuary. Ms. Federis is also a passionate proponent for the firm’s annual gift to the Office of Legal Affairs at the University of the Philippines College of Law and is a regular contributor to the funding of non-government organisations involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of street children.