James J. Hill

James Hill is a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Wildman Harrold. Jim has over 35 years of experience in all phases of patent and trademark prosecution, litigation, trials and licensing. He represents clients in patent preparation, prosecution and reexamination proceedings; trademark preparation, prosecution and opposition proceedings; infringement investigations; product clearances; intellectual property litigation; and licensing of intellectual property in a variety of industries including telecommunications, medical devices, computer hardware and software, analog and digital electronics, manufacturing and recycling machinery, agricultural and environmental control devices and systems, product labeling and identification apparatus, conveyors, dental appliances, floor cleaning and maintenance machines, construction equipment, and electrical connectors. Jim has acted as principal trial counsel in patent/trademark/trade dress litigation in over 30 cases, having tried five of such cases before a jury and has successfully prosecuted five reexaminations of U.S. patents. He has also prepared an amicus brief on behalf of the Chicago Patent Law Association before the U.S. Supreme Court on issue of patentability of computer programs, and has filed patent and trademark applications and Internet domain name applications internationally. Jim began his legal career as a patent attorney with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s Chicago Operations Office. He comes from an electrical engineering background, having served as a project leader and staff engineer with ITT Research Institute and as a research engineer with RCA in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Representative Experience:

Intellectual Property

Represented Kinze Manufacturing, Inc., in a patent lawsuit brought by the largest U.S. manufacturer of agricultural equipment; obtained a jury verdict invalidating five patents, and a substantial settlement of an antitrust counterclaim
Obtained a bench decision of infringement of a registered trademark in the automated manufacturing industry
Successfully represented a manufacturer of RV after-market products, obtaining a jury verdict in a lawsuit against a competitor which copied an unregistered product, alleging infringement of the trade dress of an RV awning having a slatted cover
Obtained a settlement of a trademark infringement claim by All-American Golf, Inc. against the largest manufacturer of golf products in the United States
Represented a large manufacturer of cleaning products and services in a patent infringement lawsuit, obtaining jury findings of non-infringement
Obtained a substantial patent infringement settlement for an individual against a national manufacturer of automotive security devices

Reported Decisions:

Kinze Manufacturing Inc. v. Deere & Co., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 741 F.2d 383, Fed. Cir. 1984
Lakewood Eng’g & Mfg. Co. v. Lasko Prod., Inc., 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13491, N.D. Ill. 2001
Ecolab, Inc. v. Paraclipse, Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, 285 F.3d 1362, Fed. Cir. 2002

Professional Associations:

Patent Law Association of Chicago

Bar Admissions:

Illinois, 1965

U.S. District Courts in Illinois and Michigan

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh, Eighth and Fifth Circuits and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Supreme Court, 1971

Registered to Practice before U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Personal Information:

In his spare time, Jim does pro bono work for a foundation that provides search dogs trained for use in national disasters. He has served on his local library board and acted as chairman for a community electoral caucus.

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