Donald S Showalter

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Intellectual Property Practice

Intellectual property, in many cases the most valuable and least protected asset of companies and individuals, consists of several forms of intangible property including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. For business executives and creative individuals, these are vital components of success. Intellectual Property law protects your innovations from unauthorized use and exploitation by third parties, allowing you to fully benefit from what you have created.

Intellectual Property law can be intimidating and confusing without knowledgeable counsel. GrayRobinson's Intellectual Property Practice Group eliminates your headaches by providing a broad range of services to protect and enforce your intellectual property rights.

Companies and individuals seek out GrayRobinson's experience and knowledge in intellectual property matters. From start to finish, our attorneys can direct you through the process of obtaining copyrights and trademarks and protecting valuable trade and business secrets. They are also experienced in enforcing rights related to trademark and copyright matters, including copyright and trademark infringement actions.

For companies or individuals interested in obtaining a registered trademark, the Intellectual Property Law Group can conduct searches to determine whether the desired name or logo is already taken and prepare applications when appropriate. Our attorneys also can provide advice on whether the logo or name is suitable, and whether it would be more appropriate to register a trademark in Florida or with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, the firm prepares copyright applications and assists with registration of copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office.

In today's high-tech society, trademark and copyright infringement is prevalent on the Internet. It is becoming increasingly common for a company's website content to be stolen or extensively plagiarized by a competitor. Web site content can be protected by copyright law. GrayRobinson can take the steps necessary to protect your intellectual property rights on the Internet.

Our attorneys provide legal counsel regarding trade secrets, Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements, Noncompetition Agreements, and Employment Agreements with restrictive covenants related to the protection of your intellectual property. We also prosecute patent applications and engage in patent-related litigation.

Intellectual Property Law Certified Attorney - Florida Bar

Donald S Showalter
Gray Robinson PA
401 E Las Olas Blvd #1850
Fort Lauderdale FL 33301-4236
Tel: 954 761-8111
Fax: 954 761-8112
E-mail: dshowalter@gray-robinson.com

Practice Areas
* Intellectual Property
* Patent
* Trademark

An attorney rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell, Don has practiced exclusively in the intellectual property area for over 22 years. His practice focuses on electrical, electronic, optical, computer and mechanical technologies. Don has defended clients in patent infringement litigation before various U.S. District courts on patents relating to a wide range of technologies and has briefed and orally argued patent infringement cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Don has also represented clients in trademark and copyright infringement cases and has served both as a mediator and as counsel to parties in mediation.

As a registered Patent Attorney, Don's practice includes preparation and prosecution of utility and design patent applications (both domestic and international), patentability, infringement and validity opinions, reexamination and reissue proceedings, foreign patent oppositions, and federal patent litigation. Don provides legal advice to clients on how to design or re-design their products as to avoid or reduce the risk of liability for infringing patents owned by others. Don has testified in Federal Court as a patent law expert concerning the efficacy of a product design adopted by a company to avoid infringing the patent of a competitor.

Don's trademark practice involves securing, maintaining and enforcing trademark rights, in U.S. and abroad. Don counsels clients on the selection of new marks, conducts clearance investigations and renders availability and infringement opinions and provides legal advice concerning trademarks, company names, domain names and related unfair competition issues. Federal, state and foreign registrations are obtained, maintained and renewed. Don is experienced in trademark litigation as well as in the prosecution and defense of related proceedings such as oppositions and cancellations of registrations and disputes concerning Internet domain names.

In addition to drafting and negotiating licenses and transfers of all forms of intellectual property, Don has experience in preparing and negotiating agreements relating to software development, acquisitions of computer hardware and software, work made for hire agreements, confidentiality agreements, employee agreements, software distribution agreements, application service provider (ASP) agreements, source code escrows. He also assists clients in mergers and acquisitions in connection with due diligence in the intellectual property area, including ownership/title issues, scope of rights, infringements, and trade secret issues.

Don is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and, in addition to being a member of The Florida Bar, is a member of the Bars of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern District of Michigan, and Western District of Tennessee. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.