About Protecting the Product

Protecting the Product™ is a Quarles & Brady LLP blog that highlights issues currently affecting the design rights legal field. The blog discusses and delivers analysis on relevant court decisions and domestic and international news and developments involving design patents, trade dress, design-related trademarks and copyrights, and other developments in design-related thinking and product and brand protection.

About Design Patents Practice Group

Realizing the full potential that design patents and complementary design rights have in building a comprehensive brand-protection strategy requires significant depth of knowledge and breadth of experience. The Quarles & Brady design rights team has helped clients secure design patents and related legal rights across the full breadth of industries—from long-lasting industrial products, to consumer products with accelerated life cycles, to the fast-paced and ever-evolving world of software graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In coordination with its network of foreign design law experts, the group secures patents and related legal rights in every jurisdiction worldwide.

James has extensive practice experience in all aspects of U.S. intellectual property law and regularly counsels clients in the areas of utility and design patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law, with emphases on rights procurement, portfolio development and management, rights enforcement, and licensing.

Justin is a patent attorney who assists clients with their domestic and international patent portfolios with regard to patent preparation and prosecution, freedom to operate analyses, and infringement analyses for design and utility patents.

Rachel focuses on domestic and international patent portfolio growth and management. She assists with the preparation and prosecution of patents and has experience drafting comprehensive patentability reports as well as performing in-depth research for inventors.

Joe focuses his practice on all aspects of patent preparation and prosecution for both utility and design patents. He also assists clients with clearance and counseling, including patentability analyses and infringement and invalidity assessments.

Mason focuses his practice on all aspects of design and utility patent prosecution, both domestically and internationally. He also assists clients with clearance and patentability analyses, as well as patent portfolio management and strategy.

Greg focuses his practice on all aspects of design and utility patent prosecution, assisting clients with preparing and prosecuting domestic and international patent applications.

Justin’s practice focuses on all aspects of patent prosecution, assisting clients with preparing and prosecuting domestic and international patent applications with an eye towards obtaining patent protection that aligns with and advances a client’s unique business objectives.

Seth assists clients with their domestic and international patent portfolios, including patent preparation and prosecution, freedom-to-operate analyses and infringement analyses for design and utility patents.

Christopher is a registered patent attorney who focuses on domestic and international patent portfolio growth and management, including preparing and prosecuting patents. He also assists clients with clearance and patentability analyses, as well as patent portfolio management and strategy.

Trevor focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation.  He has experience working on patent, trade secret, and trademark matters, and his litigation experience consists of pre-suit investigation, motion practice, and discovery.  Foster has also done significant work with respect to various intellectual property agreements and licensing disputes.

Mike is an intellectual property litigator with a focus on patent litigation. His litigation experience consists of a full range of services, from pre-filing investigations through appeal. He has litigated cases in many federal district courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Harrison focuses on all aspects of patent prosecution, including assisting clients with preparing and prosecuting domestic and international applications. He specializes in design and utility patent prosecution for mechanically based consumer products.

Caleb helps prepare and prosecute domestic and international patent applications. His core technical experience is in the field of mechanical engineering.

Michael focuses his practice on utility patent prosecution involving mechanical, electrical, and software-related inventions and design patent prosecution. He advises clients on domestic and international patent portfolio procurement and management strategy, including PCT applications and design registrations under the Hague System.

Photo of Nick Schmidbauer
Nick Schmidbauer
Attorney, Chair of the Consumer Product and Industrial Design Subgroups

Nick focuses his practice on all aspects of litigation, counseling, and intellectual property procurement and enforcement. His clients range from domestically-based startups to foreign publicly traded companies, on all aspects of procuring, clearing, and asserting patent and trademark rights in both the United States and international forums.

Joel practices in the areas of trademark law and brand management, intellectual property licensing, and business & intellectual property litigation. His work includes prosecuting trademark applications in the United States and foreign countries as well as litigating infringement, false advertising, unfair competition, and business disputes.

Li is dual-qualified in China and the U.S. and has over 17 years of experience in anti-counterfeiting, brand protection, and IP strategic counseling, with a focus on China.