Jeanne M. Gills is a partner and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She also serves as vice chair of the firm’s national Intellectual Property Department focusing on Strategic Marketing & Business Development, and she previously served as vice chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice.
She acts as lead trial counsel in complex patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright, and unfair competition litigation and appeals — including USPTO post-grant proceedings — in diverse industries ranging from electronics to biotechnology.
Trial experience includes “bet the company” cases with several hundreds of millions at stake, e.g., TAS v. Cummins (jury trial on a license covering engine technology and DeKalb v. Pioneer (jury trial on patents covering genetically engineered corn).
Representative PTAB experience includes successful oral argument on behalf of petitioner in IPR2013-00178 regarding synthetic diesel fuel wherein all of patent owner’s claims were held invalid and its Motion to Amend was denied and successful Federal Circuit appeal and PTAB remand proceeding on behalf of patent owner in IPR2013-00578 wherein certain of patent owner’s challenged claims were upheld as not unpatentable.
Other representative IP experience includes: counseling related to product configuration trade dress and use of color as a trademark; handling TTAB and UDRP matters; resolving copyright ownership disputes, particularly in the areas of computer software and associated documentation; handling contractual disputes concerning IP rights and the theft or use of IP by a company’s former employees, business partners and/or independent contractors; counseling clients on IP holding companies, including how to maximize value from an IP portfolio when certain assets are likely to be the subject of IP litigation; and handling cases involving the intersection of trade dress, design patent, and utility patent protection for consumer and industrial products.
Education :
Ms. Gills is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1994) and Michigan State University (B.S., with honors, electrical engineering, 1991). She is admitted to practice in Illinois, the Federal Circuit, the Seventh Circuit, and various federal district courts, in addition to the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Affiliations and Community Involvement :
Ms. Gills previously served on the board of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and previously served for six years on the Evening Associates Board of the Art Institute of Chicago and mentored high school students through Links Unlimited.
Cost
Rate : $$$