Thomas, George M.

My practice includes all aspects of intellectual property with emphasis on patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation. I have handled over 200 intellectual property disputes, including approximately 20 patent infringement cases, many of the cases as local counsel. My practice also includes assisting companies to increase their market share and protect their competitive advantage by identifying and protecting valuable branding, technological innovation, software, and other property and by procuring patent, trademark, and copyright registrations and through employment agreements and non-compete agreements. I also advise clients on licensing, acquisitions, due diligence, and eCommerce, including the emerging field of branding in cyberspace and trademark issues related to the Internet. We also assist clients in recovering domain names taken by cybersquatters.

While I have represented a number of Fortune 500 corporations, I focus on growing companies, who benefit from broad intellectual property counseling. I also represent a number of solo inventors and start up companies from inception of their business plan through their first couple rounds of funding. I also offer to serve as Virtual General Counsel and Virtual IP Counsel for companies that require in-house counsel but have not grown to that level.

In addition to intellectual property, I have significant experience litigating commercial and business disputes, including non-compete, partnership, fiduciary duty, and breach of contract disputes, 7 of which I have tried to a verdict, judgment, or arbitration award. I have represented a number of clients in obtaining and resisting requests for injunctive relief in cases involving non-competes, trade secrets, trademarks, and patents.

My practice also includes serving as local counsel to out of state parties involved in patent, trademark, copyright, IP, and commercial litigation in state and federal courts in Dallas, Texas and the Northern and Eastern District of Texas federal courts. My local counsel practice includes representing both plaintiffs and defendants. We have successfully achieved dismissals, as local counsel, for out of state defendants on venue and lack of personal jurisdiction grounds, recently we obtained a voluntary dismissal in a trademark case on those grounds and won an appeal at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a dismissal in a patent case under the first to file rule. See our local counsel page - www.kk-llp.com/localcounsel.asp - for additional information, including the Local Patent Rules for the Texas Northern and Eastern District Courts.

PURSUITS

Boxing, weight training, tennis, running, and other sports; film and country music; and trying to keep up with my three children

SELECT CLIENT REPRESENTATIONS

Defending a large semiconductor manufacturer in a patent-infringement lawsuit to a successful judgment upheld on appeal to the Federal Circuit

Representation of clients in patent-infringement litigation involving semiconductors, optical lenses, software method patents, bar-code readers, eyeglass devices, and Internet processes

Representation of several Fortune 500 corporations in patent-infringement litigation versus the Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, Limited Partnership

Representation of clients involved in trade-secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of non-competition agreement litigation, including obtaining and defending against temporary restraining orders and preliminary/temporary injunctions

Representation and counseling of clients involved in software development disputes involving breach of contract and copyright issues

Representation of business-software publishers in copyright enforcement programs against companies using and/or distributing pirated software

Counseling start-up and small company clients regarding intellectual-property protection and assets

Preparation and prosecution of patent applications for clients involving a variety of technologies, including semiconductors, medical devices, games, molecular gas separation processes, mechanical apparatus, and furniture

Preparation and prosecution of trademark and copyright registration applications

Serving as local counsel to out of state parties involved in patent, trademark, copyright, IP, and commercial litigation in state and federal courts in Dallas, Texas and the Northern and Eastern District of Texas federal courts

I also offer to serve as Virtual General Counsel and Virtual IP Counsel for companies that require in-house counsel but have not grown to that level.