My practice is about 50 percent corporate consultations and litigation, and about 50 percent intellectual property, and that's simply because the majority of clients I represent in intellectual property matters also need the corporate work.
What does intellectual property law cover?
Intellectual property is roughly classified as patents, trademarks, copyrights and, to some degree, trade secrets. Patents cover inventions, new and novel useful items and processes. Trademarks cover brand names for goods and service names for companies. Copyrights cover artistic or creative materials - photographs, music, literature, sculpture, things of that nature.
What attracts you to intellectual property law, and specifically, patents?
Patent law is kind of unique because it's one of the only other areas of law that you have to have a separate bar and a separate license to practice. ... A separate patent bar is administered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. You do not have to be a lawyer to take that test, and some people who take that test who are not lawyers are called patent agents. ... One of the requirements is that you have to have either an engineering degree or a life sciences/mathematics-type degree. One of the reasons I ended up in patents is because I can still do some biology and chemistry.
What are some common misperceptions about intellectual property law?
Anything that's in the public domain cannot be taken and patented. Concepts, in general, cannot be patented. Folks come in all the time and say, "Hey, I have this idea on how to make something better." You can't patent just the concept. What we patent is either the product itself ... or perhaps, the method for making that product. We see that a lot in chemistry, with chemicals. On most intellectual property, trademarks excluded, you can only copyright or patent materials that either you create (though) there are some exclusions to that called the work-for-hire provision. I can hire a photographer to take pictures, and I can file the copyright for them, even though he's the artist.
Will we see more intellectual property cases? Why?
Yes. I think a lot more companies in particular are becoming much more familiar with with the intellectual property process because ... we're seeing patent infringement suits receive publicity, and historically ... no one really followed them. The other thing we're seeing is that companies have learned that you don't have to have bricks and mortar, tables and chairs and equipment to have value in your company, because of what happened in the late 1990s and the early part of this century with the dot-coms and computer-based companies. They don't have a lot of hard assets, but those companies sell for millions and billions of dollars. They have their value classified based on intellectual property. ... My favorite part of the practice is helping local businesses identify their intellectual property and protect it to add value to their company.
Is technology and the Internet a help or hindrance for intellectual property?
I think it's a double-edged sword. ... I think it's helpful that ... it's not that hard to go and find out what your competitors are doing, to some extent. It's easy to search copyrights, trademarks and patents on the Internet.
On the other hand, a lot of information is improperly used on the Internet. ... That aspect really has problems (stemming from) people not understanding that just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's public domain.
Tell us about your family and your community involvement.
I have a wonderful wife, Cindy. We've been married almost nine years. I have a 7-year-old daughter, Cabrini, and a daughter, Camille, who is 5. I'm on the board of directors of Legal Services of Southwest Missouri, and I've been on a variety of charitable boards in the last 15 years.Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
