John is Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department and the Firm’s Intellectual Property Practice. He has extensive experience in intellectual property, false advertising and antitrust matters. John has filed and successfully prosecuted hundreds of trademark registration applications and regularly negotiates and drafts agreements involving the license and sale of intellectual property. He also regularly advises clients on matters pertaining to intellectual property, including false advertising, defamation, online privacy and other Internet-related matters, publicity rights, the protection of trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, and third party infringement of all forms of intellectual property. In addition, he has served as lead counsel in numerous intellectual property cases, including false advertising, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement cases.
Representative Cases as Lead Counsel
- Successful prosecution of a injunction action brought by a national software company to stop a third party from using and licensing a knockoff of its copyrighted software.
- Successful prosecution of a injunction action brought by a national restaurant franchisor to preclude a terminated franchisee from continuing to use its trademarks.
- Successful prosecution of a false advertising action that sought to prevent an online publication business from continuing to conduct a promotional campaign.
- Successful defense of a trademark infringement action that sought to block a major licorice manufacturer from continuing to market its only product.
- Successful defense of an action by a licensee of a major collegiate organization that alleged the organization had wrongfully failed to stop a competitor of the licensee from using the organization’s trademarks.
- Successful defense of a trade secret misappropriation action that alleged a real estate developer had constructed part of a commercial mall using the plaintiff’s proprietary designs.
- Successful defense of a false advertising action that sought to block the nationwide launch of a paint product into the marketplace.
Professional Affiliations
Presentations & Articles
- Panel discussion following "Copyright Criminals" screening, presented by the Missouri History Museum and KETC Channel 9, the Community Cinema Series, October 2009
- “Trademark Forum” Jacksonville, Florida, 2006
- “What Every Business Must Know: Important Steps Every Business Should Take to Protect and Leverage its Trademarks,” Intellectual Property Forum, 2004
- “Intellectual Property Update,” Lawyer’s Weekly and Annual Law Update Seminar, 2002
- “Intellectual Property Assets That Every Business Has: Why And How To Protect Them,” Strategies For Success Seminar, 2001
- Author, “Protecting Trademarks as Domain Names,” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, August 24, 1998
Community Involvement