Bradley J. Hulbert is a partner with McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP. Mr. Hulbert, a founding partner in MBHB, has diverse experience in obtaining, evaluating, and enforcing intellectual property. As a counselor to both Fortune 500 and start-up, venture capital companies, he has a special interest in developing creative, cost-effective strategies to address specific business objectives. Mr. Hulbert's litigation experience relates to patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, and unfair competition and alternative dispute resolution. He has served as lead trial and appellate counsel in a wide range of successful intellectual property litigation, often involving complex electrical and software technologies.
Mr. Hulbert also frequently evaluates and issues comprehensive opinions regarding the scope, validity, and enforceability of patents. He has negotiated a wide range of favorable intellectual property licenses and successfully testified as an expert witness on patent and licensing matters. Mr. Hulbert routinely assists both domestic and foreign clients in establishing and maintaining effective programs for identifying and patenting key inventions.
Representative Experience
Mr. Hulbert's representative experience includes successfully:
- Overseeing the development of a substantial number of major patent portfolios for multi-billion-dollar, multinational corporations, including companies in software, electronics, and mechanical products industries.
- Representing a major consumer electronics manufacturer, where a competitor brought suit alleging infringement of eight patents (including several essential to industry standards), and the manufacturer successfully defended with counterclaims for, e.g., patent infringement, promissory estoppel and unfair competition.
- Bringing a winning motion for summary judgment of non-infringement of two patents asserted against a multinational consumer electronics firm and successfully arguing for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to affirm the judgment.
- Defending a large, consumer electronics firm sued for infringement of multiple design patents.
- Asserting patent infringement in a suit against a company started by ex-employees of an industrial electronics manufacturer.
- Defending a multinational software firm charged with copyright infringement.
- Securing favorable outcomes for a variety of multinational firms in a series of patent lawsuits brought by Non-Creative Entities that had purchased their asserted patents.
Published Articles
What To Do When You Receive a Charge of Patent Infringement," The Corporate Lawyer, Vol. 44, No. 10 (April 2007)
"Recent Developments in Computer Law", 6 Software Law Journal 35 (1993); 12 John Marshall Journal of Computer & Information Law 395 (1993)
"Best Efforts May Not be the Best Advice", 27 les Nouvelles 37 (1992)
"Special Considerations for Obtaining and Litigating Software Patents", 4 Software Law Forum 1 (1990)
"Ethics in Engineering", Proceedings of the National Forum on Education and Continuing Development for the Civil Engineer, American Society of Civil Engineers, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1007-12 (1990) (co-author)
"Competitive Opportunities in U.S. Intellectual Property", 6 European Intellectual Property Review 185 (1989) (co-author)
Engineering Law (Northwestern University, 1989) (casebook)
"De-Vexing Prejudgment Interest Awards in Patent Cases", Journal of the Patent Office Society 103, (1985) (co-author)
"Secret Prior Art and the Duty of Disclosure", 30 DePaul Law Review 819 (1981)