Company Profile
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Company Overview
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP is a Chicago-based intellectual property law firm having over 80 attorneys, highly qualified patent agents, and technical specialists, all dedicated to providing superior intellectual property counseling. We specialize in prosecution and litigation in all areas of intellectual property law. We litigate nationwide, primarily within the federal court system, and obtain patents and trademark registrations for our clients in the United States and foreign patent and trademark offices.
We accept resumes from students who have obtained an engineering or other scientific undergraduate degree qualifying them to take the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office bar exam.
Company History
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP was founded in 1955, then operating from offices at the Chicago Board of Trade Building under the name Merriam & Lorch. By the late 1950s, the Firm numbered ten attorneys with an early focus on intellectual property litigation serving the chemical, electrical and pharmaceutical industries.
From the 1950s to the present, the Firm has continued to grow and strengthen its intellectual property practice through small mergers and lateral additions and the development of new attorneys and technical specialists hired from school or industry. The Firm’s growth has been purposeful, with an emphasis on adding transactional and trademark capabilities as well as expanding and enhancing its patent prosecution capabilities across an array of fields and industries such as computer science and software, electrical devices, optics, mechanical devices, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics and nanotechnology.
Over the last fifty years the Firm has also continued to expand and enhance its litigation practice, where its long and highly regarded experience in complex intellectual property litigation enjoys a distinguished history in the federal district and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court in such landmark cases as:
Blonder-Tongue Labs, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation which established the fundamental principle of offensive collateral estoppel.
Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corporation which set forth the basic principles for antitrust liability under the patent laws.
The Firm’s litigation experience has also figured prominently in the application of the patent laws to new fields of technology including in the seminal case Amgen Inc. v. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which established several important legal precedents in the biotechnology patent field, and which still serves as a pillar for Amgen’s erythropoietin (EPO) patent estate that was recently upheld through the Firm’s success in Amgen Inc. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., affirmed in 2009.
Today Marshall, Gerstein & Borun has grown to a firm of more than 80 attorneys, patent agents, and technical specialists uniquely qualified to provide intellectual property service for clients worldwide in a comprehensive range of industries and practice areas. The Firm occupies the 62nd and 63rd floors of Chicago’s Sears (now Willis) Tower, where it has maintained its offices since 1993.
Notable Clients
Amgen, Inc, BASF Group, CDW Corporation, Emerson Electric Co., Illunina, Inc., The Nielsen Company, The Procter & Gamble Company, Shop Vac Corporation
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
Chambers & Partners ranks Marshall, Gerstein & Borun in 2011 as an IP boutique best recognized for patent, trademark and copyright protection and litigation. Chambers ranks Marshall, Gerstein & Borun in 2010 as a "Highly regarded boutique [providing] a comprehensive service." Sources say, "A group which enjoys understanding the science side and gets results by adopting a creative approach." Chambers quoted sources in 2010 as saying "They go out of their way to build relationships," in 2009 that the Firm is "first-rate for litigation and transactional work" and in 2008 that the Firm has "one of the best biotechnology practices in the entire country."
U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers ranks Marshall, Gerstein & Borun as a first-tier "Best Law Firm," 2010-2011.
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun ranks among the "World’s Leading Intellectual Property Practices" for patents, biotechnology and trademarks according to Managing IP’s 2011 World IP Survey.
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun’s attorneys are recognized among the "World’s Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Lawyers" in the Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Licensing 250 list, 2010- 2011, and among the "World’s Leading Intellectual Property Strategists" in the IAM Strategy 250 list, 2009-2011.
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun was rated among the top firms for trademark practice in Chicago and the United States by World Trademark Review, WTR 1000, 2011-2012.
Ranked in the top quartile of "Top Patent Firms" by Intellectual Property Today, 2012.
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun is a "Go-To Law Firm of the Top 500 Companies" for intellectual property, Corporate Counsel magazine 2008-2011.
Corporate counsel select Marshall, Gerstein & Borun as a "Go-To Law Firm of the Top U.S. Companies" for intellectual property legal services in Fortune magazine, 2010.
Benefits
In addition to our generous benefits package, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun offers a business-casual atmosphere and provides ample opportunity for socialization between our colleagues at monthly breakfasts, special-occasion luncheons, and out-of-office functions throughout the year. Technical Specialists are also provided a generously sized private office and a culture that offers great work-life balance.