Firm History
Soon after its founding in early 1973, TraskBritt became primary counsel for a rare class action patent infringement suit charging virtually all ski boot manufacturers worldwide with infringement of a pioneering ski boot patent owned by a well-known Utah ski boot manufacturer. Many of the named defendants who challenged jurisdiction were ski boot companies located outside of the United States. After a lengthy battle in the trial court and an appeal, the right to sue foreign companies in Utah and to serve those foreign companies by mail was established. Subsequently, the case settled on terms very favorable to the client.
Currently, TraskBritt represents clients in trials and appeals in the U.S. and abroad and has a litigation practice that is nationally recognized.
Beginning in the mid 1980's, TraskBritt began to expand its international law capabilities. Shareholder Laurence Bond has studied intellectual property policy and practice at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany. Besides being admitted to practice before both the courts of Utah and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Mr. Bond is a solicitor in England and Wales, and may practice directly before the European Patent Office. Currently, Mr. Bond manages international design patent protection for a major U.S. corporation. Allen Turner, who became a shareholder in 1996, developed significant international expertise as in-house patent counsel for a major European pharmaceutical company in The Netherlands. Mr. Turner's practice includes the representation of various non-U.S. biotech companies and institutions. In addition to participating in international litigation and oppositions in the European Patent Office, TraskBritt represents numerous, significant clients worldwide. Firm language capabilities include Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, and French.
In recent years, the growth of TraskBritt has primarily been in the area of representing large, publicly held corporate clients in intellectual property matters. Joseph Walkowski, former in-house intellectual property counsel for two Fortune 500 corporations, joined TraskBritt in 1991, adding to the firm's depth of practical expertise in representing major corporate clients in establishing and enhancing their intellectual property positions. This depth was increased by the addition of James Duzan, former chief patent counsel for Halliburton Company, in 1994. Prior to joining TraskBritt, both of these gentlemen were patent examiners in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Joining the firm in 1993, Dickson Burton has added both trial and appellate expertise to the litigation capabilities of TraskBritt. Mr. Burton has first-chaired significant litigation matters and has successfully argued before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Edgar Cataxinos, the current Managing Shareholder of TraskBritt, has also added to the litigation capabilities of the firm. Joining the firm in 1994, Mr. Cataxinos has participated in complex litigation, interference and transactional matters, and has also successfully argued before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
TraskBritt also employs well-qualified associate attorneys, many of whom have advanced degrees as well as years of practical experience as engineers and scientists. As can be readily determined by individual biographies, these attorneys all have outstanding credentials and backgrounds that enhance the ability of TraskBritt to serve client needs.
Bringing varied technical and professional backgrounds to the firm, TraskBritt attorneys have a wide range of legal and technical experience and expertise, and are well equipped to deal with nearly any technology in the context of preparing and prosecuting patent applications as well as licensing and enforcing patent rights. TraskBritt has an extensive trademark, copyright, and design practice that reaches worldwide. The intellectual property counseling, negotiating and litigating representation offered by TraskBritt is of the highest quality, and encompasses trade secrets, franchising, confidentiality agreements and other strategies to protect valuable intellectual property assets.
In response to steadily increasing client needs over the years, TraskBritt has grown from two to over twenty attorneys. In the fall of 1998, the firm consolidated operations from two office buildings into its present location at the Midtown Plaza, 230 South 500 East, Suite 300 in Salt Lake City, Utah. TraskBritt is committed to meeting the needs of the client by using the latest in Internet, office, and legal-specific applications software to increase efficiencies and maximize the skills of the professional staff.
In the future, the firm envisions an ever-greater role of the Internet and technology in providing quality legal services. Technological advances, coupled with the international harmonization of intellectual property laws, will enable TraskBritt to continue to effectively represent clients worldwide, with physical distance between a client and the firm being no barrier whatsoever.