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Trademark Clinic Director Daniel Thomson (center left) and students meet with client Robert Martin, founder of Coates Christian Apparel.

Trademark Clinic

For students

The Trademark Clinic provides second- and third-year law students who have completed required courses the opportunity to assist real-world clients with the filing of trademark applications under the supervision of licensed attorneys. Students interview clients, conduct trademark searches, prepare trademark applications, answer office actions from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and draft trademark-related contracts. 

“In retrospect, the Trademark Clinic was the most valuable experience I had in law school,” said Nathan Gugliotta ’17, now an attorney with the Akron law firm Gugliotta & Gugliotta, LPA, which specializes in business law and intellectual property representation. “In addition to filling out the intricacies of a trademark application and responding to substantive issues of registrability, we were also given the opportunity to interact directly with the clients and discuss the nature and needs of their brand. I was able to begin my practice with my feet on the ground because of the Trademark Clinic.” 

In the news

Crain's Cleveland Business: University of Akron trademark clinic helps startups, students alike

Our trademark clinic is one of several classes that enables students to work with real clients under the supervision of a law professor or practicing attorney.

For small businesses

If you are a small business that meets certain income-eligibility requirements, the Trademark Clinic may be able to assist you in protecting your trademark rights. The clinic has filed over 100 trademark applications and obtained 48 registrations for small businesses like yours. Recent clinic clients include:

  • Zae & Sam Bath Bombs, founded by a 13-year-old boy who wanted others to experience the peace of mind he felt when soaking in a fizzy bath bomb.
  • Mindfully Mixed, a local startup producer of Super Salad Bar healthy snack bites.
  • Osleek, an Israeli-based developer of innovative consumer products, for its whisky stones.
  • Ninety+, a youth soccer camp run by Kofi Sarkodie, a member of the University of Akron’s 2010 national championship soccer team.
  • The Old Tavern, in Unionville, believed to be the oldest tavern still standing in Ohio. Trademark registration for the Old Tavern logo helped support efforts to restore the endangered historical property.
Contact Information

Daniel Thomson
trademarkclinic@uakron.edu

Dan is a U.S. Patent attorney who has personally filed or prosecuted over 800 trademark applications and over 400 patent applications. He is co-managing partner of Akron-based Emerson, Thomson Bennett LLC, a full-service intellectual property law firm. He has directed the Trademark Clinic since 2016.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C.

The Trademark Clinic at Akron Law is one of only a handful of such clinics in the country where the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office permits law students to prosecute trademark applications.