William H. Needle

Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Litigation, Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights

William H. Needle is Immediate Past Chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Department. Mr. Needle is a registered patent attorney who has been exclusively practicing all aspects of Intellectual Property law for over 42 years. His experience includes copyright and trademark litigation for the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS® dolls and the State of Georgia in infringement cases involving the VIDALIA® onion mark, as well as patent infringement actions involving diverse technologies.

Mr. Needle also currently serves as an alternative dispute resolution neutral panel member of JAMS, in the mediation and arbitration of disputes involving intellectual property issues. He has been an expert witness in several patent, trademark, and copyright infringement actions. On several occasions, he was appointed to serve as a Special Master by U.S. District Court judges in patent infringement cases in which his recommendations on validity, infringement, and damages in two actions were affirmed by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He was Chair of the committee that has drafted pattern trademark jury instructions for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Needle also served on the committee tasked with formulating local rules regarding patent litigation for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Professional Activities

State Bar of Georgia, Fellow, Lawyers Foundation

Academy of Court-Appointed Masters

Atlanta Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, Master of the Bench

Georgia State University College of Law, Adjunct Professor, patent law

Emory University School of Law, past Adjunct Professor, patent and licensing law (1983-2009)

State of Georgia, Special Assistant Attorney General, intellectual property law, 30+ years

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, intellectual property law, highest ranking (band one), annually since 2003

The Best Lawyers in America, intellectual property litigation, patent law, and trademark law, annually since 1991

Recognized as one of "IP Stars" in Georgia by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, 2013

Georgia Trend magazine's "Legal Elite," annually since 2003

Certified "Memphis in May" barbecue judge

Publications

Co-author, "IP: An Arbitration Award May Not Be the End of the Road in Patent Disputes," InsideCounsel.com, April 30, 2013

"Trademark Law," chapter in Association of Technology Managers Technology Transfer Practice Manual, 3rd edition, edited and updated in Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation, 2007

"An Intellectual Property Primer," supplement to the Fulton County Daily Report, pages 26-32, December 9, 1991

Speaking Engagements

Mr. Needle has lectured frequently at Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars and to other groups on intellectual property law issues, including (most recently):

Speaker on "Protecting Your Business and Your Intellectual Property" at the FastTrac TechVenture Entrepreneur Training Course sponsored by the Kaufman Foundation and held jointly by Emory University's Office of Technology Transfer and the Small Business Development Center at the University of Georgia "to help technology/science-based entrepreneurs grow a great idea into a successful business," March 8, 2012

Keynote speaker, "Suggestions for Effective Mediation and Arbitration in IP Cases," Business Law Section of The Florida Bar, Third Annual Intellectual Property Law Symposium, Orlando, March 1, 2012

Presenter at CLE seminar sponsored by the IP Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia on “What Your Client Should Know about the America Invents Act re: Patent Litigation,” October 2011

Board Memberships

Anti-Defamation League, Southeast Region, Board of Trustees

Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Sciences, Advisory Board

Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry, Advisory Board

The Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER®) program (collaboration between Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Law that prepares students for commercializing new technologies), Advisory Board

University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Biomedical Engineering, Advisory Board

Emory University School of Law (J.D. 1970)

Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S., Chemistry, 1967)

Georgia

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit