Dan is a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Law School. He founded and ran his own patent-prosecution boutique law firm for over twenty years before joining FFMDT. He is the author of BitLaw, an award-winning website that provides legal information on intellectual property and the protection of computer “bits.” He is also a chapter author of a college textbook on Internet ethics.

Dan is a frequent lecturer and author on patent, copyright, trademark, and Internet legal issues. He has lectured on best practices in patent prosecution, cloud computing, and statutory subject-matter issues at recent Midwest IP Institutes organized by Minnesota CLE. Dan also served for ten years as an adjunct professor of Software and Technology Law at the University of St. Thomas Graduate Programs in Software, and as an adjunct professor of patent law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Dan has drafted patents covering many different computing technologies, including storage area networks (SANs), file systems, digital-rights management, databases, and Internet business processes. He has also drafted patents on non-computer technologies ranging from medical devices and camera systems to sporting equipment.

Because of his long history of prosecuting software-related patent applications, Dan has significant experience in dealing with Section 101 (subject-matter eligibility) issues in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has lectured frequently on this subject, has written on how to handle Section 101 rejections in BitLaw, and is frequently brought in by clients to handle applications that have floundered under Section 101 rejections and to advise on the enforceability of issued patents.

Clients frequently ask Dan to analyze the patents held by third parties. These investigations help companies determine how to respond to a competitor’s patent. Typically, an opinion is reached indicating that a license to the patent should be taken, that the client’s product should be altered to avoid infringement, or that the patent is either invalid or not infringed. Dan has also served as a legal expert witness, in which his role is to assist the court in interpreting patent law and patent-prosecution practice.

Dan’s practice areas:

• Patent prosecution in computer software and mobile apps, data storage, networking, acoustics, medical devices, and mechanical inventions
• Trademark prosecution
• Intellectual-property enforcement and defensive litigation

• Named Top 40 IP Attorney by Minnesota Law and Politics
• Named Super Lawyer by Minnesota Law and Politics
• AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale Hubbell
• 10.0 rating from AVVO

• Minnesota
• Massachusetts
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• Minnesota State Bar Association, Computer and Technology Law Section (1996-Present, Section Council, past chair)
• Minnesota State Bar Association, Internet Law Committee (1996-2002, past chair)

• Author, Bitlaw, an award-winning intellectual-property Internet legal resource
• Chapter author, “Law and the Internet,” Internet Ethics, by Duncan Lanford (2003)
• Adjunct Professor of Patent Law, University of Minnesota Law School (1997-1999)
• Adjunct Professor of Software and Technology Law, University of St. Thomas, Graduate Programs in Software (2000-2009)
• Dan has spoken at dozens of seminars on patent and Internet legal issues. He has lectured at the Midwest IP Law Institute on the topics of “IP and Business Issues in Cloud Computing,” “Best Practices for Patent Drafting,” and “Best Practices After Bilski.” Most recently, Dan has lectured for the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Computer and Technology Law Section on the patentability of software after recent Supreme Court decisions.