Matthew Grothouse is a transactional and litigation attorney in Ice Miller’s Intellectual Property Group, where he primarily focuses his practice on trademark and copyright prosecution and enforcement; brand portfolio management; and state and federal litigation involving intellectual property issues, contractual disputes and general business disputes.
Matt has extensive experience representing and counseling clients on trademark and copyright prosecution, commercialization, enforcement and risk management issues. He has also assisted clients in drafting and negotiating complex intellectual property licensing agreements, master service contracts, employment agreements, operating agreements, terms and conditions, privacy policies and sweepstakes and contest rules.
In addition, Matt is an experienced litigator in both state and federal courts. He has litigated complex corporate, contractual and intellectual property disputes, including trademark, trade dress, domain name, false advertising, unfair competition, copyright, defamation, personal privacy, data privacy and breach of contract issues. He engages in complex motion practice and discovery and regularly litigates preliminary injunction hearings, dispositive motions and bench trials and jury trials.
Matt believes in proactive and client-centered legal counseling, whereby legal disputes are not only promptly resolved but are proactively prevented and whereby all client communications are prioritized and all client interests are respected and zealously represented.
While earning his juris doctor with a certificate in general intellectual property, Matt served as Chief Articles Editor for the DePaul Journal of Sports Law & Contemporary Problems and a 711 Attorney for DePaul’s Technology/Intellectual Property Clinic. Before joining Ice Miller, Matt was a partner at a boutique intellectual property law firm in Chicago.
In his free time, Matt enjoys history, politics, writing, investing, startups, running, beach volleyball, board games, and mentoring.
Selected Experience
- Maintained and enforced international trademark portfolios for global brands, including obtaining injunctions and large damage awards against foreign counterfeiters
- Successfully registered hundreds of trademark applications and overcame dozens of 2(d) and 2(e) refusals.
- Successfully dismissed a high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit based on a fair use argument
- Successfully defended Uber driver in sexual assault trial while obtaining a defamation counterclaim verdict.
Firm Publications
Published In
- “Implicit in the Concept of Ordered Liberty: How Obergefell v. Hodges Illuminates the Modern Substantive Due Process Debate,” 49 J. MARSHALL L. REV. 1021 (2016)
- “Galvin v. Illinois Republican Party Highlights the Seventh Circuit’s Mistreatment of Satire in Copyright Law,” Intellectual Property Section Newsletter, Illinois State Bar Association (July 2016)
- “Collateral Damage: How the Transformative Use Test Confounds Publicity Rights Law,” 18 VA. J.L. & TECH. 275 (2014)
Speaking Engagements
- “Intellectual Property Basics for Freelancers,” Spark Chicago: Protect Your IP Event, Freelancers Union, Chicago, Illinois, September 7, 2016
- “Protecting Your Art,” CAVA Symposium, Illinois, June 23rd, 2016
- “Intellectual Property Basic for Small Businesses,” YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 20, 2015
- “The Legal Issues Surrounding Social Media Law,” LakeFX Sumit + Expo, Chicago, Illinois, April 18, 2015