BRUCE E. BURDICK, ESQ.
Website: www.burdlaw.com  E-mail: bruce@burdlaw.com
 

BURDICK LAW FIRM
3656 Western Ave., Alton, IL 62002

(618) 462-3450   Fax: (618) 208-1712

St. Louis, MO (314) 256-9314

 

Overview

Mr. Burdick is an expert patent, trademark and copyright attorney who specializes in intellectual property law of all types, including litigation and prosecution for businesses and individuals alike. He is frequently retained by other patent attorneys for litigation matters due to his incredible array of corporate and private law experience and is nationally known as an advocate for independent inventors and start-up businesses.  He runs one of the world's best intellectual property websites www.burdlaw.com and in keeping it current, keeps himself up to date in all areas of intellectual property practice.   As a public service, Mr. Burdick also works part-time as a Transportation Security Officer at Lambert St. Louis airport.
 

He has been a Registered Patent Attorney since 1974. He is licensed to practice in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas, before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Western District Of Missouri, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He is both a Certified Mediator in Intellectual Property and a Certified Arbitrator in Intellectual Property by the World Intellectual Property Organization of Geneva, Switzerland as well as an approved neutral for the US District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.

 

Education

Mr. Burdick received his B.E. degree in Metallurgical and Mechanical Engineering in 1969 from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and his J.D. degree from the University of Texas in 1972.
 

Bar Admissions & Licenses


1973 texas, 1974 uS patent office, 1974 oklahoma, 1995 illinois, 1996 missouri plus numerous courts on State and Federal level.


Employment Experience
 

From July 1993 when he founded it to the present Mr. Burdick has owned and operated Burdick Law Firm in Alton, IL, and St. Louis, MO specializing in intellectual property law of all types.  Due to his vast expertise, and the widespread recognition of his expertise, Mr. Burdick has also been “Of Counsel” to a number of other patent firms.
 

For example, from May 2000-May 2002 Mr. Burdick was Of Counsel to the St. Louis Intellectual Property Law firm Haverstock, Garrett & Roberts, primarily in patent litigation. (This is one of the older patent firms in St. Louis)
 

He was Of Counsel to Armstrong Teasdale LLP of St. Louis from August 1999 to March 2000. (One of the big St. Louis general practice firms which does patent work mainly for General Electric)
 

He was associated Herzog, Crebs & McGhee, LLP of St. Louis from September 1997-August 1999. (A 30 lawyer general firm in St. Louis. After Mr. Burdick left, that firm gradually stopped doing intellectual property law.)

From 1993-1994, Mr. Burdick was Of Counsel to Kalish & Gilster LLP, a firm which subsequently split, with the partners and associates merging into other St. Louis firms like Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin and Greensfelder Hempker & Gale.
 

In addition to his extensive private law firm experience since 1993, for 17 years before that (1977-1993), Mr. Burdick was Patent Counsel, Group Patent Counsel, Chief Trademark Counsel and Senior Counsel for Olin Corporation, where he was responsible for obtaining, maintaining and enforcing domestic and foreign patents; government contract negotiations; intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. At Olin, he created two intellectual property departments and developed a multimillion dollar licensing program (that continues still today) under the famous WINCHESTER trademark worldwide and enforced that name through litigation in more than 20 countries over 15 years without ever losing even a single case, an incredible 15 year run of 100% success in hundreds of litigations.
 

In 1980 Mr. Burdick was recruited to establish an in-house patent department at Nashua Corporation of Nashua, NH, but after doing so for a year was rehired and promoted in 1981 by Olin to return and establish the above noted patent department for Winchester at East Alton, Illinois near St. Louis.
 

After law school, and prior to Olin, he was a patent attorney for a leading oil well and construction company, Halliburton, (yes, that Halliburton!)
 

Prior to Halliburton, he was a nuclear metallurgy engineer from the time he graduated engineering school in 1969 to 1970 with United Nuclear Corporation working on nuclear reactor components for naval power systems for aircraft carriers and destroyers, but left to attend law school after meeting local patent attorneys and determining that was the career he wanted to pursue.
 

Capabilities (30+ years experience)

bulletMr. Burdick has extensive patent and trademark prosecution, licensing and litigation experience in the United States and nearly all European, South American, Scandinavian, and Far Eastern countries.
bulletPatent application preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance;
bullettrademark application preparation, filing, prosecution, registration and maintenance;
bulletpatent licensing both domestic and foreign;
bullettrademark opposition, cancellation and litigation on an international scale having litigated trademark issues in more than 20 countries;
bulletthe handling of trade secrets, export control matters and military classified information;
bulletpatent opinions, including patentability opinions, infringement opinions, non-infringement opinions, validity opinions, invalidity opinions, right-to-use opinions, state of the art opinions and pre-litigation and post litigation patent opinions of all types;
bulletpatent and trademark litigation in Federal and foreign courts;
bulletpatent applications in the U.S. and abroad on mechanical, computer, chemical and electrical inventions,
bulletintellectual property audits;
bulletacting as expert witness in intellectual property matters;
bulletmediation and arbitrations of intellectual property disputes;
bullettrademark clearances, trademark selection advise, and trademark protection strategies;
bullettrademark applications and prosecution in the U.S. and abroad;
bulletmarketing of inventions, being advisor to several inventor groups;
bulletnegotiation of trademark and patent licenses;
bulletsupervision of transfers of intellectual property rights world-wide, including mergers and acquisitions both small and large; and
bullettraining of patent and trademark attorneys

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For the inventor or company interested in making money on its inventions:

bulletHe is past Treasurer and conference manager for the Illinois Innovators and Inventors Association,
bulletis an active member of the Missouri Venture Forum, and
bulletis an expert and frequent lecturer on obtaining funding for independent inventors and start-up businesses.
 

For the corporate attorney and corporate intellectual property assets:

bulletLitigated trademarks worldwide in 40 countries simultaneously and for 15 years with hundreds of litigations and
bulletMr. Burdick has established and trained 5 intellectual property law departments (Nashua Corp., Winchester Group, Olin Trademark, Burdick Law Firm, and Herzog Crebs & McGhee) and trained numerous other patent lawyers;
bulletyet had a 100% success rate, never losing a single case;
bulletHas obtained patents on all sorts of technologies from rockets science like ion propulsion engines, monopropellant hydrazine rocket thrusters and arcjet thrusters (Rocket Research Company, Redmond, WA) to high intensity microwave "ray guns" for satellites (Physics International, San Leandro, CA) to airplane computer diagnostic equipment (Pacific Electro Dynamics of Redmond, WA) to tank ammunition (Olin Ordnance, St. Petersburg, FL) to pool chlorine dispensers (Olin HTH Pulsar, Stamford, CT) to brass alloys (Olin Metal Research Lab, New Haven, CT), to all sorts of computer related invention, truck accessories, engine parts, medical devices, etc.
bulletHas written corporate manuals on Trade Secrets, Correct Trademark Usage, Patent Strategy, Government Data Rights, Secrecy Markings, Unsolicited Idea Handling, Patent Insurance, Copyright Practice, Intellectual Property Valuation, Licensing, and Joint Venturing.
bulletHas managed several different corporate patent departments and functions on both divisional and corporate levels.
bulletHe frequently advises on patent department organization, training and management.
 

For the attorney seeking Litigation Counsel:

bulletHe has argued cases before both the Board of Patent Appeals and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and practices patent and patent and trademark litigation in three US District Courts and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
bulletHe is one of only 2 lawyers in the St. Louis area trained by the World Intellectual Property Organization in arbitration and mediation.


Technology Capabilities:

bulletHe is computer literate, having experience with C++, Visual Basic, XML, HTML, SHTML, ASP.NET, Internet technology, website creation, Microsoft Office 2000, 2003 and 2007 and Windows XP and Vista, as well as numerous intellectual property software programs.
bulletHe has been Webmaster for six Internet websites; including this one (Burdpix ---1062 ---Hoedowners ---Burdlaw ---I3 ---Conf );
bulletHe uses the latest in computer equipment e-mail, scanning, digital imaging, etc. to reduce costs; and
bulletHe makes extensive use of electronic forms and legal software to minimize preparation times and reduce clerical errors in documents and forms.


Memberships:

bulletAmerican Intellectual Property Law Association (Special Internet ADR Committees),
bulletAmerican Bar Association (Intellectual Property and ADR Committees),
bulletLicensing Executives Society,
bulletBar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (Law Technology, ADR and IP Committees),
bulletMissouri Bar (ADR and IP Committees),
bulletState Bar of Texas (IP Committee),
bulletIllinois State Bar Association, and
bulletInternational Trademark Association