Atty. Somera heads V&A Law’s Intellectual Property Department. He is well-recognized as an authority in the field of intellectual property in the Philippines and is consistently ranked in the top tier of the World Trademark Review, Legal 500 Asia-Pacific Guide and Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific Ranking for Intellectual Property. In 2017 and 2018, he was awarded the Lexology Clients Choice Award for Trademarks and was the first Filipino recipient for trademarks. He was also recently listed as a distinguished practitioner in intellectual property in Asialaw 2020.

 

With over thirty (30) years of experience, Atty. Somera has expertise in handling all facets of intellectual property law, from prosecution to enforcement, litigation and commercialization of traditional as well as novel intellectual property matters. He has published several articles on intellectual property law and served as resource speaker on the subject in the Philippines and international fora.  Following the end of his term as V&A Law’s Managing Partner in 2015, Atty. Somera has since focused his efforts on broadening the already diverse patent and trademark portfolio of the Firm. He devotes particular attention to sharpening the Intellectual Property Department’s expertise in specific practice areas of IP law, particularly, patent and trademark litigation and copyright protection which have served to distinguish V&A Law from its counterparts in the Philippines.

 

Atty. Somera has held and continues to occupy key positions in local and international IP organizations as well as in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). He is a council member of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) where he was previously Vice-President. He also served as a councilor of the ASEAN Intellectual Property Association (AIPA). Atty. Somera is also a notable figure in the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI). He was also a former member of the Editorial Board of the World Patent and Trademark News, an international journal on intellectual property news and articles. In the Philippines, he was a former officer of the Licensing Executives Society-Philippines (LESP) and a former President and Chairman of the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP)—the largest association of intellectual property practitioners in the Philippines. He was also an accredited Mediator for appellate cases having completed his training at the Philippine Judicial Academy of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

 

With his strong devotion to the development of the field of intellectual property and his stature in the Philippine legal profession, Atty. Somera also serves as a frequent lecturer on intellectual property in various seminars for lawyers including the MCLE.