Tom Dietrich

Tom is a trusted corporate advisor with over 12 years of experience in intellectual property litigation and counseling. He’s litigated cases over Spawn and The Walking Dead for Image Comics, defended patent lawsuits for Experian and helped a well-known furniture designer win a preliminary injunction barring knockoffs from the market and summary judgment on copyright claims.

Before joining The McArthur Law Firm, Tom practiced with international law firms—Crowell & Moring and BakerHostetler—in Orange County, California. There he worked on patent, copyright, right of publicity, and trademark litigation for clients around the country. Tom helped a Fortune 500 client win a total victory in a patent case when the Patent Trial & Appeals Board invalidated two patents-in-suit based on petitions for review Tom wrote and discovery he gathered. Tom served as general counsel for a large publishing company, managing its IP portfolio, dealing with potential rights infringements, and drafting and negotiating publishing and licensing agreements. He also guided a Fortune 100 company’s internal investigation into allegations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by the DOJ and SEC.

For the last five years, Tom has worked with smaller companies on all aspects of business and IP—handling trademark and copyright registration and management, mitigating litigation risks, preparing employment and independent contractor agreements and distribution contracts, and regularly interfacing with corporate leadership. Tom mentors startups at a local business incubator and has written for the Craft Brewing Business news site on IP issues in the craft beer industry.

Tom earned his law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2007 where he served on the Hastings Law Journal.