Profile
Cameron M. Nelson focuses his practice on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret litigation. Cameron has trial experience in each of these areas in a number of forums, including U.S. District Courts and the International Trade Commission, as well as related appeals before the Seventh Circuit and Federal Circuit.
Cameron has deep knowledge and experience in pursuing anti-counterfeiting litigation, and has conducted dozens of counterfeiting seizures alongside non-litigation anti-counterfeiting strategies. He also has wide-ranging knowledge regarding the use of computer forensics, which he uses in anti-counterfeiting investigations as well as employee theft and trade secret theft investigations. Cameron’s patent litigation experience encompasses a wide array of technologies, including consumer electronics, chemical manufacturing, digital communications and digital signal processing. In copyright litigation, he has asserted copyright claims on behalf of a number of clients, including jury trials, and has also defended copyright claims. Cameron is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and has experience with adversarial proceedings before the USPTO, such as trademark oppositions and inter partes reviews.
Concentrations
- Trademark, trade dress, and anti-counterfeiting litigation
- Anti-counterfeiting policing and strategy
- Section 337 investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)
- Enforcement of intellectual property rights via U.S. Customs Service, domain name registrars, takedown requests and asset seizure
- Copyright litigation
- Employee theft / trade secret litigation
- Patent litigation
- Patent, trademark and copyright prosecution
- Technical areas of experience:
- Automotive transmissions
- Furniture manufacture and design
- High performance computing methods
- Digital signal processing, including wireless communication protocols and MPEG4 AVC / H.264
- Video encoding
- Materials and fatigue
- Liquid crystal displays
- Computer forensics
Capabilities
Experience
- Representation of UL, LLC in connection with monitoring of and enforcement actions against counterfeiters of UL trademarks. This representation includes a number of public judgments, settlements and consent degrees in favor of UL.
- Representation of American Airlines in connection with trademark infringement litigation with Expedia, Inc.
- Represented Lorillard Tobacco Company in more than 40 civil suits in the Northern District of Illinois involving the sale of a counterfeit product. Obtained several ex parte seizure orders, seized more than $2.5 million in counterfeit goods and obtained trial verdicts.
- Represented Acushnet Company in counterfeit enforcement action against distributors of counterfeit golf balls in Acushnet Co. v. Cam Golf et al., 05-cv-03166 (N.D.Ill.).
- Represented Cartier, Richemont, Montblanc and Chloe International in counterfeit enforcement action against internet reseller of knock-off goods, Cartier et al. v. Harper, 2:06-cv-119-GLF-MRA (S.D. Oh.).
- Representation of Habersham Plantation Corporation in copyright infringement litigation against a number of manufacturers of infringing furniture designs, including multiple jury verdicts, including Habersham Plantation Corporation v. G&J Styles Inc. et al., 08-cv-5892 (N.D.Ill.), Habersham Plantation Corporation v. Art & Frame Direct et al., 10-61532-CIV-COHN (S.D. Fl.), and Habersham Plantation Corporation v. Molyneux et al., 10-cv-61526-WPD (S.D.Fl.).
- Represented LG Electronics in defense of patent infringement allegations in before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Investigation Nos. 337-TA-836 and 337-TA-839, involving LCD technology, microprocessor technology, graphics processor technology, and teleconferencing technology.
- Representation of Se-Kure Controls, a retail anti-theft and loss-prevention equipment manufacturer in enforcing its patent portfolio through both licensing and litigation efforts, including in including in Se Kure Controls Inc. v. Vanguard Products Group, et al., C.A. 02-cv-03767 (N.D. Ill.), Se-Kure Controls, Inc. v. Diam USA, Inc., C.A. 06-cv-04857 (N.D. Ill.) and Se-Kure Controls, Inc. v. Sennco Solutions, Inc., et al., C.A. 08-cv-06075 (N.D. Ill.).
- Represented Primax Electronics Ltd. in Primax Electronics Ltd. v. KYE Systems America Corp., C.A. 09-cv-02821 (C.D. Cal.), and KYE Systems America Corporation v. Primax Electronics Ltd., C.A. 10-cv-04481(C.D. Cal.) defending against allegations of patent infringement related to computer input devices.
- Represented Chemtura in multi-patent litigation relating to bromine and bromine-related chemical products, in Albemarle Corp. v Chemtura Corp., et al., 3:05-cv-01239-JJB-SCR, and related cases.
- Represented Google in Specht, et al. v. Google Inc., et al., C.A. 09-cv-02572 (N.D. Ill.) in defense of allegations of trademark infringement and unfair competition.
- Represented Consolidated Foam, Inc., a local home-goods manufacturer, in a suit against a major wholesaler selling knock-off products, resulting in a settlement without trial.
- Represented local wholesaler in defense of patent infringement action, resulting in finding patent being rendered unenforceable.
- Represented Lands’ End in trade secret litigation against Eddie Bauer, in Lands’ End, Inc. et al. v. Eddie Bauer, et al., 2010cv5084 (N.D.Ill.).
- Judicial Extern, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier, Northern District of Illinois, 1999
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, World Trademark Review, Illinois, Enforcement and Litigation, "WTR 1000," 2023-2024
- Listed, Leading Lawyers Network, 2018-2024
- Emerging Lawyer, 2015-2017
- Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Illinois Super Lawyers, "Rising Star," 2012-2016, 2021-2022
- Listed, The Legal 500 United States, "Intellectual Property - Trademarks: Litigation," 2020
Credentials
Education
-
J.D., summa cum laude, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2001
- Law Review
- Order of the Coif
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998
- B.S., Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998
Admissions
- Illinois
- Supreme Court of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office