RKMRyan Kromholz & Manion, S.C.Ryan Kromholz & Manion, S.C.
Dan Johnson

Partner Profile

Dan Johnson

Dan appreciates working with inventors to bring their products to market, acquire patent rights, and avoid infringing the patent rights of others. In his free time, he enjoys being outdoors as much as possible. His outdoor activities include, in the spring, trout fishing and turkey hunting, in the summer, golfing, in the fall, bow hunting, and in the winter, skiing.

(262) 783-1300djohnson@rkmiplaw.comLinkedIn

Dan has extensive trial and appellate experience in patent litigation, copyright litigation, and trademark litigation. This experience includes argument and briefing to trial and appellate tribunals, as well as practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including Trademark Trial and Appeal Board oppositions and cancellation proceedings.

Dan has assisted clients in patent prosecution, copyright prosecution, trademark prosecution and trademark availability searching, trade secret protection, patent licensing, product development agreements, patent infringement and non-infringement opinions. Dan advises on strategic, cost-conscious development and management of intellectual property portfolios for his clients.

Dan’s successful litigation track record includes victories for small sprout farmers in In Re Cruciferous Sprout Litigation, 301 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2002), the prevailing engineering firm in Panduit v. HellermannTyton, 451 F.2d 819 (Fed. Cir. 2006), and a groundbreaking case protecting databases from Open Records requests, a victory in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court in WIREdata v. Village of Sussex, 2008 WI 69 (Wis. 2008).

Dan is also experienced in United States Patent Office patent reexamination proceedings as well as International Trade Commission patent actions.

Prior to becoming a registered patent attorney, Dan worked as an environmental engineer in private practice. His work included contaminated sediment assessments on major rivers within the Great Lakes Basin, hazardous waste identification and characterization, remedial action planning and cost-effectiveness evaluations, capture zone and contaminant transport analysis, remediation system design, installation and monitoring.

While at Marquette University Law School, Dan received numerous academic excellence awards, and clerked for the Honorable Marianne Becker, and served as an intern clerk for the Honorable John L. Coffey of the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Dan also assisted in drafting portions of a textbook regarding international intellectual property law.

Affiliations & Memberships

  • State Bar of Wisconsin
  • American Bar Association
  • Wisconsin Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Waukesha County Bar Association

Representative Matters

  • Brassica Prot. Prods. LLC v. Sunrise Farms, (In Re Cruciferous Sprout Litigation) 301 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2002), reh’g denied by, reh’g, en banc, denied by In re Cruciferous Sprout Litig. v. Sunrise Farms, 2002 U.S. App LEXIS 22195 (Fed. Cir. 2002), cert. denied, Brassica Prot. Prods. LLC v. Sunrise Farms, 538 U.S. 907, 2003 U.S. LEXIS 2004 (U.S. 2003) – represented prevailing sprout farmers against claims of patent infringement; case resulted in claims of the patent in suit being invalidated by both the trial court, and affirmed by the Federal Circuit.
  • Panduit Corp. v. HellermannTyton Corp., 451 F.3d 819 (Fed. Cir. 2006) – represented Defendant against claims of patent infringement; all claims of patent infringement were dismissed by the trial court; a ruling affirmed on appeal in the Federal Circuit.
  • Rubber Stamp Mgmt. v. Kalmbach Publ’g Co., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33367, 2007 WL 1367718 (D. Wash. 2007) – represented Defendant publishing company, who was granted summary judgment against Plaintiff’s claims of trademark infringement; case voluntarily dismissed by Plaintiff immediately thereafter.
  • WIREdata Inc. v. Village of Sussex, 751 N.W.2d 736, 2008 WI 69 (Wis. 2008) – represented prevailing software company and assessor against an open records request seeking database produced by copyrighted computer program.

Honors

  • Super Lawyers® – Wisconsin Rising Star, 2006-2009
  • Martindale-Hubbell BV® Distinguished™ Peer Review Rating
  • Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year – 2019-2020
  • Best Lawyers® – Litigation – Intellectual Property; 2020

Presentations & Publications

  • “Electronic Open Records Requests” – presented to Wisconsin Association of County Corporation Counsel, April 2007.
  • “Copyrights–WireData v. Village of Sussex” – presented at Wisconsin State Bar Association, Intellectual Property Academy, July 2008.
  • Assisted in drafting portions of a textbook regarding international intellectual property law.
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