Christopher A. Bloom concentrates his practice in technology and intellectual property helping clients strategically achieve business objectives.
Christopher has counseled companies and academic institutions in strategies to develop, protect and enforce intellectual property rights. He has experience with technology exploitation and transfer, including strategic alliances, joint ventures, research and development and licensing agreements throughout the world. Christopher counsels clients concerning international distribution, licensing and franchise issues, including the structuring of agreements, compliance with applicable law and termination enforcement. He counsels clients concerning the legal issues and agreements associated with computer and electronic products, medical device software and services throughout the world, including issues such as access to data, privacy, data security, service levels (SLAs) and data rights.
In addition to representing individual clients and companies, Christopher has assisted industry consortiums and trade associations in establishing consortiums and the mechanisms for pursuing collective activity in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, research and development and licensing. He has substantial experience with the intellectual property issues involved in standards setting and standard essential patents.
Christopher has litigated cases involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, license, distribution and franchise disputes in trial courts, appellate courts, and before arbitration tribunals. He has worked on over 100 cases of patent, copyright and trademark infringement. In 1995, he led the team that prevailed in the landmark United States Supreme Court trademark case, Qualitex Company v. Jacobson Products Co., Inc., which determined that color alone could be a trademark.
Most of Christopher’s career has been involved with issues concerning information technology and biotechnology. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Christopher was a computer programmer. He has substantial experience in the laws applied to the internet, cloud computing, computer, hardware, software and data. In the area of information technology, he has chaired a panel at the Computer Law Association (CLA) in Milan on Business Method Patents; spoken at the Licensing Executives Society and the CLA on Trade Secret Protection; presented Legal Protection for Databases at the CLA in Paris, and spoke at the AdvaMed 2014 conference on U.S. Marketing and Distribution Strategies in Chicago. He recently chaired a seminar reviewing state of blockchain technology in the business and practice of law co sponsored by the Association of Legal Administrators and Global Legal Blockchain Consortium.
He regularly represents companies and academic institutions in connection with technology matters in areas of cloud computing, health care, biotechnology, cleantech, pharmaceutical, medical devices and agribusiness. This includes advising on intellectual property protection, research and development arrangements, licensing transactions and technology commercialization. Christopher served as a panelist for the Illinois Biotechnology Strategic Plan and he was the Chairman of the Technology Commercialization Task Force of the Economic Development Council.
Christopher is a member of the Commercial Panel of the American Arbitration Association and has served as an arbitrator in both domestic and international disputes involving medical devices, pharmaceuticals, computer software, licensing, joint ventures and other business transactions.
Christopher is a member of the Intellectual Property Advisory Board of Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Christopher is a faculty member in the e-commerce program of the DePaul University School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems. He was previously an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University School of Law.
- Member of the Board of Editors, Indiana University Law Journal
- Illinois Leading Lawyer
- Illinois SuperLawyer
- Intellectual Property Advisory Board Indiana University Maurer School of Law
- Director, Economic Development Council 1995-2012
- Chairman, Technology Commercialization Task Force 1994-2012
- Chicago Software Association
- DePaul University School of Law (Intellectual Property Advisory Board)
- Licensing Executives Society
- “Legislative Responses to Recent Developments in Generative Artificial Intelligence,” The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law, March-April 2024
- Co-authored chapters in "Medical Devices Law and Regulation Answer Book," Practising Law Institute, 2020
- “Intellectual Property Considerations for Medical Device Companies,” Medical Devices Law and Regulation Answer Book 2019, Practising Law Institute, 2019
- “Intellectual Property Considerations for Medical Device Companies,” Medical Devices Law and Regulation Answer Book 2017, Practising Law Institute, 2017
- “Intellectual Property Considerations for Medical Device Companies,” Medical Devices Law and Regulation Answer Book 2016, Practising Law Institute, 2016
- “Intellectual Property Considerations for Medical Device Companies,” Medical Devices Law and Regulation Answer Book 2015, Practising Law Institute, 2015
- “Hydraulic Fracturing in Illinois: Draft Regulations to Protect Chemical Proprietary Information,” NALTA News (National Association of Lease and Title Analysts)
- “Illinois Attorney General Issues Guidance on Newly Amended Personal Information Protection Act,” Legal Cloud Central, March 15, 2012.
- “Value Added Licensing: The Role of Know-How and Research Material Transfers in License Development” Les Nouvelles: Journal of the Licensing Executives Society, Vol. XXXX, No. 2, June 2005.
- “Web Linking: Potential for Legal Entanglement,” PMI News, Plumbing Manufacturers Institute, July, 2001.
- “Buying Office Technology: Things You Need to Know to Make the Right Choices,” ADA Legal Adviser, June, 2000.
- “Hazy Fee-Shifting Rule Paves Way for Litigation,” The National Law Journal, February 1996
- “Spinning an Ethical Web: Rules of Lawyer Marketing in the Computer Age,” The Professional Lawyer, American Bar Association, 1996 Symposium Issue.
- “Does the Target’s Brainpower Provide a Competitive Edge?” Mergers & Acquisitions, January/February 1994
- “Do You Want to Know a Trade Secret?” Information Week, October 1993
- “US Advertising Regulation in the 90’s,” Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, August 1993 (co-author)
- “Protection Programs Should Secure More Than Trade Secrets,” The National Law Journal
- “Covenants Against Competition in Franchise Agreements (Illinois),” American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 1992 (co-author)
- “Computer Contracts-When to Call your Lawyer,” Copy/Chicago, September 1988
- “Trade Dress Protection,” Copy/Chicago, March 1988
- “Employees and the Protection of Technology: DEC v. Emulex,” The DEC Professional, February 1988
- “Copyright Law: Who Owns Your Ad?” Copy/Chicago, January 1988
- “Trade Dress Protection,” The DEC Professional, vol. 5, p. 66, April 1986
- Software Protection,” The DEC Professional, vol. 5, p. 128, March 1986
- “Distributions to Shareholders Under the Illinois Business Corporation Act of 1983,” Illinois Bar Journal vol. 72, p. 628, 1984
- “Declaratory Judgments: Federal Anticipatory Relieve from State, Criminal Statutes After Stiffel v. Thompson,” 50 Indiana Law Journal, vol. 50, p. 567, 1975
