GEORGE H. GERSTMAN

Mr. Gerstman is an attorney, specializing in the field of intellectual property.He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Illinois, a Juris Doctor degree with honors from The George Washington Law Center, and he was Assistant Patent Editor of the George Washington Law Review. He has been admitted to practice before the courts of the State of Illinois since 1964. He is also admitted to practice before various district courts throughout the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, other Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Gerstman is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is a former United States Patent Examiner and has over 50 years of experience in the field of patent law. As a Patent Examiner, he examined hundreds of patent applications. As a patent attorney since 1964, he participated in the preparation and prosecution of hundreds of patents. He has handled numerous Patent Office appeals, interferences, reissues, and reexamination proceedings. He has been lead counsel in the litigation of numerous patents, and he has argued and won numerous cases before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and other U. S. appeal courts. He has counseled clients with respect to the issues of infringement and validity, has negotiated numerous patent licenses, and has given lectures on patent law topics.

Among some of his noteworthy patent cases, Mr. Gerstman represented Peter Roberts in the famous "quick release wrench" case against Sears Roebuck; he represented Ventritex, Inc. in a landmark case on the scope of the medical device immunity statute in the patent laws during clinical trials; he represented Data General Corp. in a patent infringement suit on a patent for cassette storage of digital data; he represented Arrowhead Industrial Water, Inc. in a significant declaratory judgment action involving a patent relating to a deoxygenation process; he represented Tokheim, Inc. in a patent infringement suit on a patent for a computerized gasoline pump; he represented numerous companies in patent infringement lawsuits on the basic video game patent; he represented Diamedix Corporation in a significant case establishing when a patent owner is an indispensible party in a suit brought by a licensee; he represented Federal Signal Corporation in a patent infringement suit concerning railroad crossing gate arms; he represented Cordis Corporation in an International Trade Commission proceeding concerning a dual chamber pacemaker; and he represented JS&A Group, Inc. in a landmark case establishing Federal Circuit jurisdiction in lawsuits including a patent infringement count.

Mr. Gerstman has participated in the preparation and prosecution of hundreds of applications for trademark registration. In this regard, he has handled numerous Patent Office appeals, opposition proceedings and cancellation proceedings. He has been lead counsel in the litigation of numerous trademark matters, and he has counseled clients with respect to various significant trademark issues.

Mr. Gerstman has been lead attorney in numerous cases in which suits were filed under the trademark laws against trademark infringers. Among some of his noteworthy trademark cases, Mr. Gerstman represented Ringling Brothers in lawsuits which prevented defendants from using slogans similar to "The Greatest Show on Earth". Mr. Gerstman represented BluBlocker Corporation in stopping numerous infringers from using the terms BluBlocker and SunBlocker on sunglasses. He has handled lawsuits relating to Internet and domain name issues, generic or descriptive trademarks, and issues relating to priority of use of a trademark within different states throughout the United States. In an Internet-related case in which he represented Crate & Barrel, a Federal Court in Illinois held that it had personal jurisdiction over a foreign defendant who had an interactive website allowing Illinois residents to order goods from Illinois. He has obtained injunctions and has obtained restraining orders and seizure orders against trademark infringers, in which United States Marshals have seized counterfeit trademark goods.

Mr. Gerstman has also participated in the preparation and prosecution of numerous copyright applications. He was lead attorney in the first case to consider copyrightability of computer software. Mr. Gerstman was also lead attorney in the landmark case holding video games to be copyrightable and was lead attorney in the first case considering the "computer program backup copy" exception to the copyright laws. Mr. Gerstman was instrumental in convincing the Copyright Office personnel to register copyrights on software embodied in ROMs and PROMs.

While a student at the University of Illinois, Mr. Gerstman programmed early digital computers, including the Illiac and the IBM 650. In the early years of solid state circuits, Mr. Gerstman fabricated semiconductor diodes at the Sylvania Semiconductor Laboratory. As a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent Office, Mr. Gerstman examined patent applications primarily relating to inductor devices and voltage regulation circuits.

Mr. Gerstman was lead attorney in numerous cases in which suits were filed under copyright laws against video game copiers; he obtained restraining orders, seizure orders and he accompanied the United States Marshals seizing dozens of bootleg video games in various cities throughout the United States.

Mr. Gerstman is listed in Leading Lawyers Network, Super Lawyers, Marquis Who's Who in American law, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World. He is the author of a book that chronicles his professional life entitled Clear and Convincing Evidence. He is also the author of a book about technology entitled Encountering Technology.