Makiko Coffland

Makiko Coffland is an intellectual property attorney with experience in all areas of IP law, including trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret matters. She also represents clients with the negotiation, enforcement, and defense of IP matters.

Makiko focuses her practice on U.S. and foreign trademark matters, including search, clearance, filing, registration, maintenance, and enforcement. She brings her technical background and experience in the life sciences to help clients protect their brands in the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry. She collaborates with clients in the fields of food and beverage, hospitality, software, insurance, medical devices, entertainment, and consumer goods – such as beauty products, clothing, optics, shoes, and sporting goods – to protect and enforce their valuable IP and brands. Makiko advises clients on copyright protection and enforcement, as well as on IP-related transactions and litigations, with a focus on trade secret and antitrust issues.

Before becoming an attorney, Makiko studied marine biology and molecular biology at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field. She also worked as a researcher in the fields of environmental engineering and microbiology and as an invention analyst for patent examination at the Japan Patent Office. Makiko is a native Japanese speaker, and she has served as a board member of the Japan-America Society of the Washington during 2018-2024. She also serves as secretary of the Intellectual Property Owners Association's (IPO) International Trademark Law & Practice Committee. Makiko is recognized in World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000 – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals for her work in trademark law.