Thomas P. Arden

Shareholder

[email protected] / vCard

150 North Wacker, Suite 1450
Chicago, IL 60606

P: 312-445-9322
F: 312-445-9325

Education

  • Yale Law School, J.D., 1985
  • Cornell University, B.A., 1981

Admissions

  • State of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar)
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Arden concentrates on federal court litigation in the areas of unfair competition, trademark, copyright, advertising and related areas; licensing and transfers of copyright and trademark interests; litigation before the United States Trademark Trial & Appeal Board; Internet domain name disputes throughout the world; and foreign copyright and trademark matters.

Mr. Arden’s litigation experience includes appeals before the Seventh, Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals and Court of Appeals or the Federal Circuit and a successful petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court vacating an appellate court decision in a copyright case. In March 2018, he was lead counsel in litigation resulting in an $8.6 million judgment in a trademark and copyright infringement action in the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Arden also has substantial experience in prosecuting and defending applications to register such diverse trademarks as cow-spotted packaging for computers and the exhaust sound of a motorcycle. He also served as a panelist for a domain name dispute resolution provider.

Honors/Distinctions

  • The Best Lawyers in America Guide– Lawyer of the Year, Copyright Law, 2014
  • The Best Lawyers in America Guide, Intellectual Property Law; Copyright Law; Trademark Law, 2009-2020, 2023
  • Illinois Super Lawyers magazine, 2006, 2012
  • Yale Law Journal, Board of Editors

Publications

Protection of Nontraditional Marks: Trademark Rights in Sounds, Scents, Colors, Motions, and Product Designs, INTA Practice Series Book, 2001; The Questionable Utility of Copyright Notice: Statutory and Non-legal Incentives in the Post-Berne Era, 26 Intellectual Property Law Review 351 (Clark, Boardman, Callaghan 1994); The Conflicting Treatments of Compilations of Facts Under the United States and British Copyright Laws 19 AIPLA Quarterly Journal 267, 1992; European Commission Proposes Directive on Protection of Computer Databases, 3 Entertainment Law Review 66, 1992. Mr. Arden also was a contributing editor for Wolters Kluwer’s Trademark Law Reporter.

Representative Clients

Mr. Arden has represented clients on intellectual property matters in the publishing, computer software, computer hardware, automotive, Internet services, personal care, food, pet food, restaurant, insurance, clothing, vitamin, pharmaceutical, musical instruments, telecommunications, chemical, entertainment, travel and toy industries.

Professional Activities

  • International Trademark Association
  • American Bar Association, Intellectual Property and Litigation Sections