University of Illinois College of Law

About

Timothy Sendek is a partner at Akerman LLP in Chicago. He is an experienced trial lawyer focusing on patent, trademark, and copyright disputes in U.S. District Courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. His experience includes numerous Section 337 trials at the ITC, jury and bench trials in District Court, and patent office litigation, including over 60 inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.

A registered patent lawyer with a background in engineering, Tim’s practice covers a range of technologies and sectors, including automotive, electronics, food and beverage, and consumer goods. In addition to his litigation experience, Tim advises clients on IP compliance, risk management, counseling, and patent prosecution.

At the Patent Office, Tim has asserted and defended petitions for IPR and other America Invents Act (AIA) post-grant challenges. In 2015, he was ranked by Patexia as one of the top five attorneys in the country handling IPR petitions.

Tim is also active in pro bono work. He is a member of the U.S. State Department’s Hague Convention Attorney Network and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s International Child Abduction Attorney Network, and is regularly called upon to handle cases reuniting left-behind parents with abducted children.

While in law school, he represented juvenile clients in court for the St. Joseph County Public Defender, was articles editor of the Journal of College and University Law and president of the Intellectual Property Law Society.

Education

JD University of Notre Dame Law School
BS University of Michigan