Eley O. Thompson is a partner and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP where he focuses on litigation, client counseling and prosecution of patents, trade secrets, and trademarks. As a member of the trial bar, he has more than 23 years of experience litigating patent, trade secret, and trademark matters for both property owners and respondents and has led litigation teams handling complex cases involving patents and trade secrets that resulted in nine-figure recoveries. His experience spans diverse technologies such as high-tech mobile, software and internet systems, RFID, polymers for various applications, video game systems, manufacturing technology for building materials, filter technologies, light bars for emergency vehicles, polymeric films for labels, gene sequencing devices, and machine vision, among others.

In addition to litigation, Mr. Thompson has handled post-grant proceedings before the USPTO, including interference proceedings. He also counsels on intellectual property strategy and handles prosecution of large intellectual property portfolios, including ones with more than 1,000 active applications and patents. Multi-national corporations and Fortune 500 companies often call on him to handle their significant intellectual property matters.

Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Thompson was a partner with a highly regarded intellectual property boutique firm. Before entering the legal field, he conducted research in artificial intelligence systems, and thick and thin film technologies. He also conducted post-graduate study in polymer chemistry.