Brian M. Mattson

President & Managing Partner
Registered Patent Attorney
In 1998, Patents+TMS was founded by Brian Mattson. After more than ten years of experience in intellectual property law including as a law partner at a large Chicago IP firm and as a former patent examiner at the U.S. Patent Office, Brian sought to begin a law firm that focused on patent prosecution and trademark prosecution as well as opinion work for issues that commonly arise with both patents and trademarks. Brian recognized the need for individual inventors, emerging companies in various technologies and other small to mid-sized companies to have legal representation that put their prosecution interests first! Ten years later--and counting, Patents+TMS continues to fulfill the goals that Brian sought out!

In 1982, Brian began his technical training by studying electrical engineering at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Following graduation in 1986, Brian began his tenure at the United States Patent Office in Arlington, Virginia. At that time, not only was technology just beginning to boom, but computers and applications using a computer that inventors were pursuing, such as data processing and imaging, were skyrocketing! At the same time, patent applications were being filed at a pace that had never been experienced at the Patent Office. Hiring of new, skilled Examiners with technical backgrounds — particularly in electrical and computer engineering — was high priority at the U.S. Patent Office. With hundreds of Examiners beginning their employment at the Patent Office at the same time Brian started his first career from engineering school, the Patent Office hired Brian as a Patent Examiner to examine patent applications in what is now Group 2900 (formerly Group 230). The original Group 230 received the first applications for computer software filed at the Patent Office, and Brian experienced first-hand the evolution of decisions regarding the patentability of software-related patents at the Patent Office. Brian's particular area of expertise regarding patent application examination included a diverse range of patent applications incorporating measuring and testing devices and computer applications of the same.

After working for one year as a patent examiner, Brian began night school at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia. Law school each and every night after a full day's work at the Patent Office made for a demanding four years of both work and school! George Mason University School of Law is currently recognized as one of the top 40 law schools in the country molding its program after the University of Chicago with an emphasis on law and economics. Brian studied under one of the premier 'gurus' of patent law — Irving Kayton, and also studied anti-trust law under the esteemed Judge Douglas Ginsburg — yes, the same judge who is remembered as the only Supreme Court nominee to be withdrawn from consideration because he had smoked marijuana. In 1991, Brian graduated from George Mason and simultaneously resigned from the Patent Office to pursue a position as an associate attorney with a law firm.

To that end, Brian accepted an associate attorney position with the Chicago patent law firm of Hill, Van Santen, Steadman and Simpson. Chicago seemed a natural fit for Brian because he loves the atmosphere of big cities and what they have to offer, and also due to his midwest roots — growing up in Morton, Illinois, just south of Peoria — yes, Caterpillar tractor country where Brian's dad spent the bulk of his career. At the Hill law firm, Brian prepared patent applications and trademark applications for individual inventors, small businesses and large, multi-national corporations, such as Siemens, Sony, Wrigley and Baxter Healthcare. Before starting Patents+TMS, Brian became a shareholder with the Hill law firm.

In addition to his law practice, Brian is former President of Bucktown Fine Arts, the organizers and promoters of the Bucktown Arts Fest and concurrently founded Bucktown Promotions that began the Bucktown Holiday ArtShow in 1998 — both events taking place in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. Not only did participation in these events satisfy Brian's desire to work within the community, but they also honed his interest and knowledge of the arts in all media and the ability to work with all sorts of different people in all walks of life!

Rarely will you see Brian at home, at work, on the road in his car or practically anywhere else without his dog, Roger! When Brian started Patents+TMS, he wanted a casual atmosphere to be enjoyed not only by him and anyone else who worked at the firm but also wanted an environment that gave clients of the firm a sense of relaxation, and yet professionalism, when they visited the firm. One instant recognition of relaxation is the friendly greeting that you'll get from Roger at the front door to the office. It's not what you'd typically expect from a law firm with such an expertise and specialization, but it's yet another feature that makes our firm unique. Some long time clients of the firm often call and ask how Roger is doing — he's become quite the celebrity at the firm!

Contact Brian at

Qualifications:
Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sworn member of the Illinois State Bar.

Affiliations:

• Member of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC)
• Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
• Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA)

Interests:
Dining out, movies, live theater, antiques, collectibles, art — modern and contemporary, outsider art and folk art, museums, buying and selling on eBay, mid-century modern furniture and decor, sporting events, golfing, skiing, tennis, biking, working out, renovating homes, architecture and design, planning events, traveling — particularly to New York City and London and to any destination which Brian has never visited.

Aaron Morrow

Registered Patent Attorney
Aaron is originally from St. Louis and a die-hard Cardinals fan. Aaron graduated from the University of Dayton in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. While at the University of Dayton, he was active in Sigma Nu fraternity, including serving as president during his senior year. As a graduation present, his fraternity brothers gave him the fraternity house snake, and the same two-foot ball python "Heyward" has been with Aaron to this very day.

Aaron then completed a Masters of Science degree in Biology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. While in graduate school, Aaron learned about the profession of patent law from his friend Jason Engel (now at K&L Gates in Chicago) and realized that his love of science could be pursued through other career paths than working in a laboratory. Aaron also began playing rugby during graduate school and gained a love for the sport.

Aaron moved to Chicago in 2002 (with Heyward in his cage on the passenger seat of the car) to begin law school at The John Marshall Law School. While in law school, Aaron was a clerk for the intellectual property group of Bell, Boyd & Lloyd in Chicago and worked on patent prosecution matters for Sony and International Game Technology ("IGT"). At Bell Boyd & Lloyd, Aaron drafted his first patent application. Aaron also was a summer associate for the law firm of Senniger Powers in St. Louis where he worked on patent prosecution matters for various clients, including Sigma Aldrich. During law school, Aaron was a member of the John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law ("RIPL"). Aaron's comment for RIPL addressed the state of intellectual property laws and enforcement in Brazil. In his third year at John Marshall, he served as candidacy editor for RIPL. As the candidacy editor, Aaron monitored the progress of the new members of the group and mentored them in writing their own comment on intellectual property law. During his third year of law school, Aaron also found time to resume playing rugby and currently plays for the Lincoln Park Rugby Club. Aaron graduated magna cum laude from The John Marshall Law School in June 2005.

Aaron has taken several "baseball road trips" to visit various baseball stadiums across the country. During law school, Aaron lived in a "rooftop" building on Waveland Avenue across from Wrigley Field. Even as a Cardinals fan, Aaron formed the opinion that Wrigley Field is the best stadium he has visited and developed a fondness for spending sunny afternoons sitting in the bleachers.

After graduation from law school, Aaron worked for the intellectual property firm of Alter & Weiss. Aaron handled patent and trademark prosecution, UDRP Complaints and patent, trademark and copyright litigation matters. UDRP Complaints filed by Alter & Weiss resulted in the transfer of many internet domains to trademark owners.

Aaron joined Patents+TMS in November 2006. At Patents+TMS, Aaron has engaged in patent and trademark prosecution matters and novelty, non-infringement and invalidity opinions. He has taken advantage of the close contact between clients and the firm to provide intellectual property protection tailored to the specific needs of each client.

Qualifications:
Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sworn member of the Illinois State Bar.

Affiliations:

• Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), Member of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) and American Bar Association (ABA), volunteer for Lawyers for the Creative Arts.

Interests:
Playing rugby, lifting weights, fanatically attending sporting events, reading books, such as Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski and Bret Easton Ellis, attending concerts, especially the annual Lollapalooza Festival in Grant Park in Chicago.

Contact Aaron at

Luke M. Barbin

Associate Attorney
Luke joined Patents+TMS in June 2005 after working in antitrust law on a large telecom merger. A Texas native, Luke moved to Chicago specifically to study intellectual property law and received a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law in 2004. Luke and his wife Lauren (Davis) Barbin (a Chicago native and Texas A&M graduate) met in Chicago while Luke was at DePaul, married on St. Patrick's Day 2007 and have since settled into their first home in Portage Park, a city neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. Luke and Lauren have agreed to root for the Chicago Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks so long as they are not matched up against the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars, respectively.

In the late 1970's, Luke was BOI (born on island), namely, Galveston Island, Texas and was raised in Waco, Texas where his parents still reside. While Luke often gets asked if he ever played football growing up, he was a basketball, baseball and tennis player in high school and earned all-state honors in basketball. Luke received a valedictory scholarship to Texas A&M University in 1996 and attended the same for undergraduate studies. Luke, a dean's list student at Texas A&M, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2000, and unknown to him at the time, on the same day and stage that his wife received her degree. Much to his regret, Luke left the over four hour ceremony immediately after crossing the stage to celebrate with family; therefore, missing his future wife's graduation. Luke has yet to live this down. As you can imagine, no agreement was required between Luke and Lauren with regard to who to root for in collegiate sports contests.

After college, Luke worked as an associate biomedical engineer for Alcon Labs R&D in Fort Worth, Texas where he helped to develop and test visco-elastic intraocular lenses for cataract replacement in human eyes. He left Alcon Labs R&D in 2001 to attend law school. A hobby from his formative years, Luke enjoys building, modifying and repairing computers, both Mac and PC. He is an avid reader of technology and gadget blogs, and, in 2006, he helped Patents+TMS set up its blogs; Inventor's Rock and Patents:Dead and Alive, where readers may find interesting tidbits and commentary on intellectual property stories in the news.

Contact Luke at

Qualifications:
Sworn member of the Texas State Bar

Affiliations:

• Member of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC)
• Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA)

Interests:
Listening to folk, country, bluegrass and americana music, watching films, gastronomy, vacationing in tropical and rural locations, playing tennis and basketball, home improvement and bargain shopping for electronics.

David Imrem

Student Intern
Dave is originally from the suburbs of Chicago. Dave graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering in 2006. While at Madison, he was a member of a research group that studied protein aggregation associated with Alzheimer's disease. Also, he worked part time for Project IceCube where he helped provide support for teams while they built a gigantic telescope beneath the Antarctic ice. Additionally, he was active in the Chemical Engineering professional society and the Hoofer's Sailing Club. Even though he has left Wisconsin, Dave still bleeds Cardinal red and has a great love for fried cheese curds.

Dave's interest in engineering came from a desire to know how the world around him works. As an undergrad, he was fascinated by tours of sewage treatment plants, power plants, and breweries that were given from an engineering perspective. Near completion of his degree, he was mesmerized when a professor told him that to explain something as simple as how a cup of coffee is brewed--every single one of his engineering classes is necessary.

After graduating, Dave moved back to Chicago. In preparation for law school, he took several years off to work. During this time, Dave traded commodities at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Specifically, he traded lean hog futures. Although he enjoyed it, he stopped trading in the summer of 2008 to go back to school. Currently, he is a student at Chicago-Kent College of Law and is active in the Intellectual Property Law Society.

When Dave is not studying, he likes to spend his time around sailboats and motorcycles. He has been around sailboats his entire life. In fact, before he could walk, Dave would crawl around the deck. Even though he took college off from motorcycles, he got back into the sport after graduating. He can usually be found driving around on most weekends from the late spring until the late fall.

Affiliations:

• Chicago Bar Association (CBA), Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA)

Interests:
Sailing, motorcycles, food, traveling, lifting weights, attending sporting events, reading, biking, and playing sports.

Contact David at

Brandon Dube

Student Intern and Registered Patent Agent
Brandon is a 2009 summer intern at Patents-TMS. An Illinois native, he was born and raised in Lake County but looks forward to spending the next few years in Chicago. Brandon studied at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. While at UIUC, he worked with a group of students to build a graphite filter test chamber for Honeywell. Brandon enjoys engineering because of his interest in cars and automotive engines.

This past year, Brandon completed his first year of study at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He intends on completing his J.D. and obtaining a certificate in Intellectual Property Law in May 2011. In the summer of 2007, he worked for Clean Air Engineering and traveled around the country performing emissions tests on coal power plants. Additionally, in the summer of 2008, Brandon worked as an admin for Abbott Laboratories in the Patent and Trademark Department.

In his free time, Brandon likes to ride bikes, watch movies, run, rock-climb, play the piano, go to Cubs and Bears games, and dine out at new restaurants. A self-proclaimed Sushi lover, Brandon welcomes the opportunity to taste all types of foods. When it's too cold for biking or climbing, Brandon also enjoys winter activities and spends many weekends in Michigan snowmobiling and snowboarding. Brandon also participates in the annual Ice Fest in Michigan where he climbs frozen waterfalls off the shores of Lake Superior.

Brandon is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Contact Brandon at

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