Brett A. August

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312-554-7962

baugust@pattishall.com

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How can Pattishall help protect my business?
Your brands, website and advertising materials are the way customers and potential customers identify your business. We can help you create a strong identity for your business and your goods and services, and then protect them from encroachment or theft by competitors and others. We do this by helping you: (1) choose brands that are not likely to be confused with other brands already in the marketplace; (2) present those brands in a way that enhances their value as trademarks; (3) identify threats to your brands; and (4) take action to prevent those threats from decreasing or destroying the value of your brands

What are your areas of concentration?
Trademarks, brand development and protection, false advertising and other forms of unfair competition, Internet and e-commerce, domain names.

What industries have you represented?
Our firm assists clients in virtually all business sectors. I have represented clients in diverse industries such as automotive, apparel, travel and hospitality, food service, wine, home furnishings, banking, financial services, consumer durables, real estate, health-care, capital goods, oil and gas, Internet services, and computer software, hardware and equipment.

How would you describe some of the issues you've dealt with in your substantive areas?
For a financial services company, I led a litigation team that stopped a competitor from using advertising that was truthful but misleading, and won the client an award of treble damages and legal fees. Recently I successfully argued an appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals for a manufacturer of consumer durables that resulted in payment to our client--the defendant in a trademark-infringement case--of many millions of dollars in settlement.

I handled a particularly interesting case on behalf of an Internet portal company that involved international cyber-piracy. A pornography site hijacked our client's identity to drive traffic to its websites, then gave false WHOIS information to prevent detection. When attempts to serve the defendant by traditional means all failed, we created new law in the 6th Circuit by convincing the trial court to permit us to effect service of process by e-mail, resulting in a series of rulings in our client's favor.

What are your specific qualifications and skills as an IP lawyer?
Clients are best served by a lawyer who listens to your specific problems and understand your goals. My seven years as in-house counsel to a Fortune 500 company taught me that knowing the law is not as important as using the law to solve the client's problem. I've used that approach to create a national practice focused on practical and cost-effective solutions.

How does Pattishall's "team approach" differ from other law firms?
Pattishall is unique in that it has dozens of attorneys with similar practices who work in a setting that promotes open sharing of ideas, knowledge and experience. When clients hire a Pattishall lawyer, they are really hiring an entire team of bright, accomplished and dedicated lawyers whose top priority is resolving their intellectual property problems. And we do it without "over-lawyering"--a difference I understand well from my years as in-house counsel.

What are the qualifications and skills a client should look for in an IP lawyer?
Many young lawyers believe they serve their clients by being as combative and adversarial as possible and by practicing "scorched earth" litigation. That approach can make dialog with opposing counsel difficult, if not impossible. Although it is sometimes necessary to institute a lawsuit to protect the client's interests, my years of resolving disputes--in and out of court--have taught me that the parties are often able to identify a workable solution. If a lawyer is not able to communicate effectively with opposing counsel, settlement discussions are less likely to take place and to succeed.

What personal and professional qualities do you have that benefit your clients?
I'm very active in the community. For example, I've taught law-school students, handled adoptions of cocaine-addicted babies from the inner city, founded non-profit organizations and served as an officer or on the board of several others. These activities help me maintain an important sense of balance and perspective that I am able to bring to work for clients.