Dennis Donahue, Intellectual Property Attorney

Dennis Donahue III is an experienced, highly effective intellectual property attorney, manager, and business advisor, with expertise in all areas of intellectual property law both in corporate and private practice. Clients served include a multi-billion dollar international retailer, aerospace manufacturing giant, aerospace subassembly supplier, secure communications start-up company and internet entrepreneurs.

As an engineer, inventor and attorney, Dennis has decades of hands-on involvement in the development, protection and licensing of technology in all fields, especially in the the mechanical, electro-mechanical, computer hardware and software arts. Dennis provides professional opinions and actions for clients faced with issues of IP infringement and litigation matters. He counsels clients on business strategies which include license agreements for patents, technology, trademarks, copyrights and celebrity endorsements.

Dennis is also experienced in Export Regulations and various forms of contractual vehicles, including Government Contracts, Research & Development (R&D) Contracts, Supplier Contracts, Distributor Contracts and Manufacturing Contracts.

Dennis worked for McDonnell Douglas from 1989 to 1993 as an engineer in Research and Development, and then on the AV-8B Harrier. He continued at McDonnell Douglas in Litigation Support on the T-45 Goshawk from 1993-1996 while attending law school. After completing law school, he continued at McDonnell Douglas as an Intellectual Property Representative in the Patent Law Group from 1996-1998. He was a Manager of Licensing Portfolio & Marketing at Boeing from 1998-1999, and then went into private practice.

As a partner at a large law firm in the Midwest, Dennis helped create and later co-chair the firm's intellectual property department. Dennis also served as a risk management officer, as well as serving as a key managment liason for mergers which more than doubled the size of the firm's intellectual property practice. In 2009, Dennis successfully launched his own boutique firm with the goal of offering a level of personal service, pricing, and ongoing IP business counseling not available within the constraints of large firm practice, especially for entrepreneurial businesses and innovators.

Dennis has served as an Adjunct Professor at St. Louis University School of Law, where he taught a self-created class entitled "Anatomy of a Patent." Dennis taught students how to interpret claims using the prosecution histories of patents and prior art references, as well as how to draft a patent application. He also teaches seminars on Intellectual Property law to business leaders from companies of all sizes, as well as local business networking groups.

Educational Background

St. Louis University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri - Juris Doctorate, May 1996
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York - Master of Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering - Hypersonic Heat Transfer, December 1988 (RPI Scholarship).
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York - Bachelor of Science, Aeronautical Engineering, May 1987 (Dean’s List, Aerospace Engineering Honor Society).

Credentials

State Bar of Missouri, Admitted October 1996.
United States Patent & Trademark Office, Registered to Practice February 1999.
U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Missouri, Admitted May 2001.

Professional Associations

American Bar Association.
American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Publications, Teaching & Speaking Engagements

Speaker, Intellectual Property Seminar - Clayton Chamber of Commerce, Missouri (2009)
Speaker, Intellectual Property Seminar - Springfield, Missouri (2008)
Adjunct Professor, St. Louis University School of Law - Anatomy of a Patent: Patent Drafting, Prosecution & Evaluations (2005, 2006, 2007).
Panel Member, Joint Webster University/Academy of Sciences - St. Louis Program with USPTO, "Science Leadership: Insight from Patent Attorneys" (Spring 2006).
Author/Editor, Intellectual Property Primers - Patent, Trademark, Copyright (2003 to present).
Author, "Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Agreements for Employees and Independent Contractors," Martindale-Hubbell Counsel To Counsel Labor & Employment E-Mail Alert (October 2003).