Ms. Stroder is a member of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLP's Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group. Her first career took her to Japan, where she saw first hand the prevalence of copyright piracy. That experience piqued her interest in copyright law, and she has turned that interest into a second career as an attorney specializing in copyright, trademark, and licensing issues for Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLP.
Ms. Stroder has represented both corporate and individual clients in a wide variety of copyright related matters, from projects as simple as registering copyrights, to litigation, complex technology transfers, and international transactional issues. Ms. Stroder actively participates on the Education Committee for the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association ("LIMA"), an international trade association whose members range from Disney and Mary Engelbreit Studios to Sara Lee and Ford Motor Company. As an active member of LIMA, she has taught seminars and presented workshops nationally on legal issues facing the licensing industry, specifically, art and technology licensing issues. On the transactional side, she recently represented McNett Corporation in a 20 million dollar international trademark licensing venture. Ms. Stroder has drafted, negotiated, and closed projects involving licensing of artwork, corporate brands, collegiate brands, software, apparel designer brands, biotech patents, and motion picture properties.
As a member of the firm's Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Group, Ms. Stroder manages extensive trademark portfolios for a number of companies, large and small. In that capacity, she has handled all aspects of both foreign and domestic trademark prosecution and maintenance, including counseling clients on trademark selection and evaluation, supervising the filing of trademark applications both in the United States and abroad (including under the Madrid Protocol), strategic planning to maximize the value and ROI of a trademark portfolio, trademark appeals, opposition and cancellation proceedings, and international as well as U.S. infringement litigation. In particular, Ms. Stroder manages the domestic and international trademark portfolio of one of the world's largest cookware manufacturers, based in Japan, as well as the international and domestic trademark portfolio of a major producer of outdoor sporting and military equipment.
As photographers, marketing professionals, and advertising firms are some of the most prolific creators of copyrightable works, Ms. Stroder has assisted numerous members of the advertising and marketing communities with intellectual property issues. She gives seminars and workshops nationally on legal issues facing the advertising industry, including ownership and licensing problems, rights of publicity and privacy, trademark protection, and false advertising.
Ms. Stroder is well-versed in technology issues related to licensing and copyright, and devotes a significant part of her practice to advising on transactions and litigation involving software, websites and open source issues. In the past six months, she has assisted in three federal cases arising from disputes over source code misappropriation, and has worked with Fortune 100 companies on complex software development projects. Ms. Stroder has also handled issues related to the Business Software Alliance, including full BSA audits and negotiated settlements, for more than a dozen clients.
Ms. Stroder is deeply committed to the arts community both in Kansas City and nationally, and she volunteers with the Kansas City Artists' Coalition, the Kansas City Ad Club, and ACID, an advocacy group for artists. Ms. Stroder serves as President and co-founder of Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, a non-profit organization that provides free legal and accounting services to low-income artists and arts organizations. In her capacity with the arts community, Ms. Stroder regularly speaks on artists' legal issues, such as commission and gallery representation, consignment and bailment issues, authentication and forgery, and copyrights. Ms. Stroder is adjunct professor of intellectual property and copyright law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law, and she also writes a monthly column on issues facing the art licensing community for the Licensing Journal.