Matthew Williams

Firm: Wyatt
Location: Louisville - KY

  • 400 West Market Street Suite 2000
    Louisville, KY 40202
    USA
  • Tel : 502.562.7378
  • Fax : 502.589.0309

Matt Williams is a member of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Protection & Litigation Service Team.  He concentrates his practice in the area of intellectual property law including patent prosecution and enforcement, trademark prosecution and enforcement, trade secrets, copyrights, client counseling, transaction support, IP licensing, and IP litigation. According to clients in Chambers USA, “Matthew Williams is excellent – he’s thorough, knowledgeable and prompt.” Also, they add “He’s very thorough and easy to work with.”

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

  • Represents individuals and corporations in evaluating potential trade and service marks, prosecuting state, federal, and Madrid Protocol applications for trade and service marks, enforcing trademark rights against others, and engaging and managing local counsel to prosecute national applications and to oppose conflicting applications and registrations in other countries.
  • Represents individuals and corporations in Opposition and Cancellation proceedings in front of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
  • Represents individuals and corporations in evaluating the patentability of inventions, prosecuting patent applications, and enforcing patent rights.
  • Counsels individuals and corporations on questions of whether their products or methods would infringe on the patent rights of another and defends individuals and corporations against claims that their products or methods infringe on the patent rights of another.
  • Represents individuals and corporations in enforcing their trade and service mark rights against cybersquatters in domain name disputes under ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

  • AAF-McQuay, Inc.
  • Ebonite International, Inc.
  • Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc.

EDUCATION

J.D., summa cum laude, Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, 2004

  • Valedictorian
  • Brandeis Honor Society
  • Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
  • Senior Editor – Notes Brandeis Law Journal, Volume 42
  • Trademark Law moot court team, 2003-2004, 2004

B.S. with highest honors, Speed Scientific School at the University of Louisville, 1992, (Engineering Science)

ADMISSIONS

  • Kentucky
  • United States Patent & Trademark Office
  • United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

HONORS

  • Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Trademark Law 2020-present and Copyright Law 2021-present
  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Intellectual Property.  Clients interviewed by Chambers USA describe Mr. Williams as an “extraordinary lawyer,” “an expert in his field,” and “he understands what we’re trying to do.”
  • Recognized by his peers as a Kentucky Super Lawyer® 2013 – present
  • Recognized as one of the “Top Lawyers” in the areas of Copyright Law, Information Technology Law and Patent Law by Louisville Magazine, March 2014

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Mr. Williams joined the firm in 2005. Before entering the practice of law, he spent ten years at G.E. Appliances as a design engineer, quality engineer, manufacturing supervisor, and purchasing agent.
  • Mr. Williams prosecutes patent and trademark applications and advises clients regarding intellectual property matters. He has experience with technologies including consumer products, appliances, refrigeration, medical devices, statistical process control, statistical quality control, and manufacturing machinery including stamping, die-casting, injection molding, and palletizing and material handling. He represents intellectual property owners in patent, trademark, and copyright infringement litigation.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS

  • Louisville and Kentucky Bar Associations
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • International Trademark Association (INTA)

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT

Habitat for Humanity; Board of Directors

PRESENTATIONS

  • “Update on Intellectual Property Issues in Equine Activities,” UK/CLE’s 30th Annual National Conference on Equine Law, Lexington, KY, April 2015
  • “Patents and Trademarks,” Wyatt’s 7th Annual In-House Counsel Institute, Louisville, KY, June 2014
  • “Hot Topics in IP Law – Non-Traditional Trademarks,” Kentucky Bar Association/Louisville Bar Association Corporate Counsel Section, June 2012

Whatt

Companies, entrepreneurs, and inventors know that in today’s economy, intellectual property – inventions, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, licenses, development relationships, and other valuable information – has become as important and needful of protection as traditional “brick-and-mortar” assets.  Companies know these assets must be commercialized in profitable ways, audited and valued in transactions, and protected against litigation risks.  They know that much of this information resides in the heads of employees, and must be secured against loss or misuse through labor mobility.

As “One Firm Devoted to Client Service,” we have built one of the largest teams of registered patent attorneys and other intellectual property lawyers in our region.  Of our six registered patent attorneys who regularly practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, several joined us following substantial experience as managers or in-house counsel with innovative companies like Colgate-Palmolive, IBM Global Services, General Electric, and U.S. Steel.

Our core group of twelve lawyers and two paralegals regularly assists clients across the full spectrum of industry, business operations, and related areas of law – Biotechnology, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Medical, Mechanical, Electronic, Computer, Copyright, Trademark, Licensing and Development, Confidentiality Agreements, Employee Non-Compete Agreements, Corporate IP Audits, IP-Secured Lending, Entertainment and Fine Arts, Trade Secrets, and Patent, Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret, and other litigation involving all these and other IP subject matter.  We also manage protection of intellectual property in numerous foreign countries through established relationships with top firms there.

We regularly team with lawyers in our Firm’s other service areas to protect client interests in transactions like new business startups, securities offerings, and corporate and asset purchases and sales.  We work closely with our human resource law colleagues to ensure that employers own and can protect information shared with or developed by their personnel, and conversely do not become vulnerable to lawsuits when they hire employees formerly associated with competitors.  We represent both clients who have built Fortune 100 businesses, and inventors, musicians, and others at just the start of their careers.

Four of our team’s lawyers, like many more in our Firm, are identified in the prestigious Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White).  Three are named as top intellectual property lawyers in the Kentucky or Mid-South Editions of Super Lawyers.  Client achievements by our trial lawyers include litigation and arbitration recoveries exceeding $1 Billion in value, injunctions halting infringing product sales and methods, and defeat of meritless lawsuits and claims, in federal and state courts throughout the nation.

We continually research new ways to support our clients’ goals.  Consistent with our Firm’s overall hallmark culture, we bring a sense of urgency to our teamwork with clients.

Our Firm is a proud member of DuPont’s Primary Law Firm group, and well-versed in the Six Sigma and other processes which DuPont’s Legal Model, and other proactive client models, have in place for extremely cost-efficient assessment, pricing, and disposition of legal matters.  Not only do we offer depth and experience comparable to major city firms at the lower hourly rates prevailing in our South-Central region, but we also offer fixed-fee, not-to-exceed, budget-driven, contingency, phase-based, and other alternative cost arrangements.  We are happy to document services using the Uniform Task-Based Code Sets published by the American Bar Association, and similar project management systems.

Our lawyers regularly speak, publish, and are consulted by journalists on intellectual property issues especially important to the industries and interests we serve.