Gregory J. Leighton is a member of Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and is also a registered patent attorney. Greg’s practice involves both patent prosecution and the protection and enforcement of various forms of intellectual property. One key focus of Greg’s practice is the interplay of various of intellectual property issues that arise as a result of doing business on the Internet. Greg regularly counsels clients on how to structure their websites and online content to avoid copyright and trademark pitfalls as well as to take advantage of the safeharbors provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. His practice also includes Internet domain name disputes under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP) arbitration procedure.
Greg also has represented clients in numerous patent, trademark, and copyright cases in federal court dealing with digital or e-commerce-based properties. Many of these cases have turned on issues at the bleeding edge of how intellectual property laws are adapted to govern Internet-based technology. Greg’s most recent trial broke new ground in the Seventh Circuit regarding the type of copyright liability that can be attached to hyperlinks.
In addition, Greg regularly represents clients in proceedings before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Prior to practicing law, Greg was an engineer at Kraft Foods in various R&D divisions. His work there included development of new products and product components, as well as research regarding applications of functional dairy proteins.
Greg received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. He then received his J.D., cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago, where he served as a member and Executive Editor of Publication of the Loyola Law Journal. He was also a Chicago Intellectual Property Colloquium Fellow from 2004-2005.