William T. McGrath   Member

 

 

Bill McGrath has practiced intellectual property and business law since 1976. He is nationally recognized for his work in the field of copyright law, though his areas of concentration also extend to trademark and information technology law, as well as publishing law, trade secret law, and software licensing. Bill's experience includes counseling, litigation, arbitration, and mediation. He has litigated matters at each level of the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also litigated matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Bill has taught graduate courses in Copyright Law and Copyright Litigation since 1990 at The John Marshall Law School, where he serves as Associate Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law. He is the author of numerous articles, including more than a dozen articles for the IP Litigator, and has provided feature content for journals including the National Law Journal and Corporate Legal Times (now Inside Counsel). He is author of two chapters on copyright law in the treatise Intellectual Property Law (IICLE 2008). Bill also lectures extensively on copyright law.

Bill is Past President of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, and has served as Chair of the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Copyright Society of the USA, and is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. He has been named to the "Illinois Leading Lawyers" network and has been recognized as an "Illinois Super Lawyer" by the publishers of Chicago Magazine.

 

Education

• J.D., Washington University, 1976.

• B.A., University of Notre Dame, 1973.

 

Bar Admissions

• State of Illinois (1976)

• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1976) (Trial Bar, 1983)

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1981)

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (1982)

• United States Supreme Court (1983)

 

Professional Activities

• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.

• Member, Editorial Board, ABA IP MagazineLandslide

• Member, Copyright Society of the U.S.A. (Board of Trustees, 1999-2001)

• Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (President, 1999- 2000)

• Lawyers for the Creative Arts (Board Member, 1996-1998)

• Chicago Bar Association (Chair, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Committee, 1992-1993)

• NITA Trial Advocacy Program (1984)