© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(April 6) – Veteran intellectual property lawyers Michael Pegues and Jason Wietjes are the latest additions to Polsinelli’s fast-growing Dallas office. Both join as shareholders.
Former lawyers at Bracewell & Giuliani, Pegues and Wietjes said the Kansas City-based firm’s platform is more conducive to serving their existing clients and to develop new business.
“Polsinelli has an aggressive and progressive growth strategy, especially in Dallas,” Wietjes said. “They were able to show that the strategy is working.”
Adam Rehm, who was the first patent lawyer hired by Polsinelli in Dallas, said the firm has been “deliberately selective and very patient” in finding the right lawyers to expand its intellectual property practice in Texas.
“The Eastern District remains the number one forum for patent litigation,” said Rehm, who started at Polsinelli in August. “We needed top-flite patent litigators.”
Pegues and Wietjes are currently representing Louisiana-based Vapor Point in a patent dispute pending in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas involving technology relating to de-gassing of tanks and equipment used in refining and oilfield services.
After a four day hearing, they were recently victorious on a dispositive motion that got two clients restored as inventors of a disputed patent and also provided a strategic defense to a patent infringement claim against Vapor Point.
Both lawyers are excited about the potential of the highly-anticipated satellite United States Patent and Trademark Office in Dallas.
“The USPTO is fantastic for Texas and our region,” Pegues said. “North Texas will be recognized for being an innovation hub.”
Wietjes and Rehm praised the USPTO’s inventor outreach programs and expect they will continue to fuel growth and activity in the region.
In an effort to serve the “booming” start-up scene in North Texas, Wietjes has focused on counseling early-stage growth companies and helping them secure intellectual property rights.
“I want to help establish Polsinelli as a start-up friendly law firm [in Dallas],” said Wietjes, who is a mentor at the Dallas Entrepreneur Center and Addison Treehouse. “The firm already has this reputation in Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.”
Pegues, who clerked for Judge Richard Schell of the Eastern District of Texas, is closely watching how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International and Octane Fitness, LLC v. Icon Health & Fitness, Inc. affect his patent litigation practice.
He says both Alice and Octane Fitness will play a major role in reducing the number of frivolous patent lawsuits filed.
“Our patent laws are meant to promote innovation and Alice has put the focus back on innovation,” he said. “The fee shifting opinion [in Octane Fitness] also helps to prevent the filing of frivolous patent infringement lawsuits because if you file such a lawsuit there is a chance that you will pay handsomely for your mistake.”
With the additions of Pegues and Wietjes, Polsinelli’s Dallas office has grown to 36 lawyers in just over three years. The firm is relocating to the new Frost Tower, where it will occupy six floors of the 22-floor building, this summer to accommodate more planned growth.
© 2015 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
If you see any inaccuracy in any article in The Texas Lawbook, please contact us. Our goal is content that is 100% true and accurate. Thank you.