ATTORNEYS & LEGAL STAFF

William C. Gehris

Partner, New York Office

+1 (212) 736-1940 x105

William C. Gehris, Patent and Trademark Attorney, received his Bachelor of Sciences and Engineering in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 1988, graduating magna cum laude. He received his Juris Doctor in 1992 from Columbia University. Mr. Gehris is a member of the State Bar of New York and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Gehris represents large corporate clients in the printing, semiconductor, laser, telecommunications, automotive, software and financial fields. Many of his clients are German corporations or subsidiaries of German corporations, and Mr. Gehris is fluent in German.

His practice includes providing patent portfolio management services, litigation counseling, licensing advice and opinions regarding patent validity and infringement. He also files and prosecutes patent applications. More than two hundred patents have issued from applications that Mr. Gehris has prepared and filed. His prosecution practice includes filing appeal briefs and conducting interviews, reexamination, reissue and interference proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Several of the patents that Mr. Gehris has prosecuted have been successfully litigated, resulting in substantial damage awards. Mr. Gehris also has represented clients successfully in litigation against assertions of patent infringement.

In addition to his work with larger corporations, Mr. Gehris advises several high-tech and Internet-related start-up companies in Europe and the United States on all aspects of intellectual property. His practice with start-up companies includes filing trademark and patent applications, as well as counseling clients on licensing and confidentiality agreements. Mr. Gehris has experience with JAVA, HTML and other programming languages. Financial instruments, such as swaps and insurance futures, also have been the subject matter of patent applications drafted by Mr. Gehris.

Prior to entering law school, Mr. Gehris worked as a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the fields of automotive transmissions and engine control systems.