Complex Patent Matters
Counsel on patent prosecution involving AI, machine learning, neural networks, and other emerging technologies: subject matter eligibility, claim strategy, and portfolio development.
USPTO Reg. No. 77,326 · Illinois · Missouri
Patent and Trademark Support for Law Firms
The attorney’s attorney.
I advise law firms and attorneys on patent and trademark matters that need more technical depth or an independent second view. I work as a consultant to the firm that holds the client relationship, and in trademark confusion cases as a consulting or testifying expert.
Services
What I Do for Firms
Trademark Strategy
Guidance on registration, enforcement, and TTAB disputes. My study of roughly 4,000 TTAB decisions found that a rule using two DuPont factors, mark similarity and relatedness of goods, matched the Board’s outcome in 99.55% of 4,651 mark comparisons (one decision can compare more than one pair of marks) (36 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 678 (2026) (opens in new tab)). That finding tells me where to focus a likelihood-of-confusion analysis; it does not predict how any particular matter will be decided. For portfolio-scale scoring, see MarkSense Analytics.
IP Portfolio Management
Advice on building, maintaining, and pruning intellectual property portfolios so they track business objectives, from a startup’s first filings to large global portfolios.
Attorney Development
Training, mentorship, and work product review for associates, with detailed feedback on patent applications, office action responses, and trademark filings.
International IP Coordination
Support for firms handling multi-jurisdictional patent and trademark matters, including coordination with foreign counsel.
IP Practice Strategy
Advice on structuring an IP practice, allocating work, and building quality controls. For bringing AI into prosecution and counseling workflows, see Consulting & AI Advisory.
Expert Witness
Trademark Confusion Expert Work
For firms litigating likelihood of confusion, in federal court or at the TTAB. Engagements are subject to conflicts review and a written agreement. My CV (opens in new tab), including a full publication list, is available for expert disclosures.
Consulting Expert
When: You need to know how the confusion factors have actually been decided before you build your case.
What you receive: An empirical assessment of how courts or the Board have weighed the factors in comparable cases, a factor-by-factor view of your record, and critique of the other side’s factor arguments.
Testifying Expert
When: The other side offers statistical or empirical evidence about trademark decisions, or your case depends on empirical analysis of how comparable disputes have come out.
What you receive: Analysis and, where admissible, testimony on empirical methods and data, including rebuttal of an opposing expert’s analysis. The work draws on my study of roughly 4,000 TTAB decisions (36 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 678 (2026)), its companion article accepted by the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, my analysis of 7,050 federal confusion determinations (2026 U. Ill. L. Rev. Online 64), and working papers on how federal courts weigh the factors. In the TTAB study, the model’s coding agreed with my own review on 97.11% of 1,002 factor-level findings (one reviewer, not blind to the model’s coding). Testimony does not extend to legal conclusions reserved to the court. I have not testified as an expert to date.
Experience
Practice Experience
I practiced IP law at Kutak Rock LLP in Kansas City (2018 to 2022). There I drafted and prosecuted patents, handled global trademark prosecution, clearance, and enforcement for startups and multinational corporations, and negotiated IP licenses. I then prosecuted U.S. and international patent portfolios as a patent attorney at Bookoff McAndrews PLLC (2023 to 2024). Matters have ranged from early-stage startups to Fortune 5 companies. I now teach at SIU Simmons Law School, where my research uses AI to study how courts and the TTAB decide confusion cases.
Technologies and industries
- Artificial intelligence & machine learning
- Large language models
- Software & SaaS
- Mobile apps
- Financial services & fintech
- Medical devices
- Defense & aerospace
- Engines, machinery & industrial equipment
- 3D printing
- Consumer products & electronics
- Video games & tabletop games
Credentials
Licenses, Registration, and Education
Registered Patent Attorney
USPTO Reg. No. 77,326
Licensed in Illinois
ARDC No. 6343575 (2023)
Licensed in Missouri
Missouri Bar No. 71135 (2018)
Education
J.D., cum laude; MBA, cum laude; M.Eng. and B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering (SIU)
Send a Matter
For an initial conflicts check, share only the names of the parties and a general description of the matter. Consulting or expert work begins only after conflicts review and a written engagement agreement.
Send a Matter for Conflicts Check