Introduction

Paul practices in Fredrikson & Byron’s Advertising, Marketing & Trademark Law and Intellectual Property Groups. His work includes intellectual property asset development, protection, licensing, enforcement, and litigation. Paul assists clients in developing brands and registering trademarks in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions, managing global trademark portfolios, developing potential drug names for possible FDA approval, negotiating and preparing publishing, film, and electronic media agreements, negotiating and preparing licensing agreements involving intellectual property assets, negotiating and resolving disputes involving trademark and copyright assets, enforcing trademark and copyright assets, and litigating before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in Federal Courts.    

Paul has served clients in a variety of fields, including arts & entertainment, media & publishing, software & high-tech, cosmetics, feature film production, literature, museums, advertising, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals & biopharmaceuticals, financial services, hospitality, agriculture, sailing and marine navigation, wine & spirits, and food services industries. Before coming to Fredrikson & Byron, Paul spent two years as the Copyright Attorney for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and then seven years in Silicon Valley in the Palo Alto offices of the Pillsbury Winthrop and Manatt firms. He maintains his strong California connections and continues to represent clients based in Silicon Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles, as well as clients who have dealings there.

Education

• Hamline University School of Law, J.D., 1997
• University of Chicago, M.A., English Literature, 1985
• University of Chicago, B.A., English Literature, 1984

Bar Admissions

• Minnesota, 1997
• California, 2000
• Federal District Court for the Central District of California

Practice Areas

• Advertising, Marketing & Trademark Law
• Media & Entertainment
• Intellectual Property
• Copyrights

Selected Publications & Presentations

• “How Not To Be a Literary Agent,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, May 14, 2013
• “New Clarity in the First Sale Doctrine,” FredALERT: Copyright, April 9, 2013
• “ICANN Establishes Trademark Clearinghouse to Provide Enforcement Services to Mark Owners before New Wave of Generic TLDs Arrives,” FredALERT: Intellectual Property, March 2013
• "Golon v. Holder: What is the Public Domain?," FredALERT: Tangent to the Circle C^SM, January 31, 2012
• “What Will Come from the Uncertainty of the Split Decision in Costco v. Omega?,” FredALERT: Tangent to the Circle C^SM, December 31, 2010
• “Costco v. Omega and the Scope of the First Sale Doctrine,” FredALERT: Tangent to the Circle C^SM, November 19, 2010
• “A Day in Court for the Google Books Settlement,” FredALERT: Tangent to the Circle C^SM, February 18, 2010
• “Lessons for Brand Developers from the Ninth Circuit,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, February 2010
• “Verb Up and Run Till You Drop,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, October 2009
• “Waiting at an Unmarked Crossroads: The Google Book Settlement Postponed,” FredALERT: Tangent to the Circle C^SM, October 5, 2009
• “No Frolic in Central Park for a Septuagenarian "Mr. C.": a Preliminary Injunction Prevents the U.S. Publication of an Unauthorized Sequel to The Catcher in the Rye,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, July 2009
• “The Peace of Incontestability,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, May 2009
• Presenter, “What to Bear in Mind when Dealing with Domain Name Disputes,” 2009 International Trademark Association Annual Meeting, May 17, 2009
• “Should I Register My Copyright?,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, April 2009
• “The Copyright Office Proposes Fee Increases,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, April 2009
• “Balancing Equities: the Use Requirement and Intent-to-Use Trademark Applications,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, March 2009
• “Some Low-Cost Steps for Protecting Copyrightable Business Assets in a Recession,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, February 2009
• “The Pitfalls of the Freelancer ‘Work-Made-For-Hire,’” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, January 2009
• “Tacking-on: Moving Ahead While Clinging to the Past,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, December 2008
• “A Common Mistake in a Freelance Art Contract,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, October 2008
• “Building the Intellectual Property Assets of Your Golf Course,” 12th Annual Midwest Golf Course Owners Association Conference & Trade Show, October 27-28, 2008
• “Facts are Free under Copyright Law,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, September 2008
• “Just How Creative Do You Need to Be?,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, August 2008
• “Copyright Law and its Siblings: Patent, Trademark, and Trade Secret Law,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, August 2008
• “Some Lessons about Settlement from Tiffany v. eBay,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, August 2008
• “Marketers Beware: Avoid the Olympic Temptation,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Trademark Topics^SM, August 2008
• “Copyright 101,” Tangent to the Circle C^SM, July 2008

Professional Activities

• Paul is an independent writer and literary critic who has written extensively on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and E.R. Eddison.