McCrackenFrank

Nicholas P. Schmidbauer

Partner

Nicholas's practice encompasses all aspects of client counseling in the fields of patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights, including the litigation of matters related thereto.  Nick has participated in the drafting and prosecution of many patent applications in the mechanical, electro-mechanical, business method, and design arts.  Further, Nick has prepared hundreds of opinions related to the right-to-practice and patentability of various technologies, as well as conducting numerous due diligence studies on the validity and enforcement of various intellectual property rights of firm clients in contemplation of complex litigation.

Nick also has significant client counseling experience for companies of all sizes, which includes assisting small and start-up companies with all aspects of branding and intellectual property due diligence necessary to be successful.  Further, Nick's value to companies is aided by his time spent in-house at a large multi-national corporation where he assisted in the procurement of intellectual property, worked with various internal business units, and prepared licensing, confidentiality, and non-disclosure agreements.

Nick's practice also encompasses the assertion of intellectual property rights.  Nick has prepared cease and desist letters in the fields of patents and trademarks to successfully keep his clients out of litigation.  When litigation is necessary, Nick has successfully assisted in asserting, or defending against, claims of patent, trademark, and trade secret infringement.  Nick has also participated in large scale litigation involving multi-national litigants, the last of which included overseas discovery and counseling.  Prior to joining the firm, Nick worked for law firms in Chicago and New York City on various federal litigation matters.  Additionally, Nick has significant experience in various State transactional and litigation matters.

Professional Associations
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Illinois State Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association