Daniel J. McMullen
Attorney Profile
Top Rated Technology Transactions Attorney in Cleveland, OH
Dan McMullen, an Intellectual Property Partner, leads the firm’s Information Technology practice. He provides skilled counsel to address clients’ legal needs regarding computer software and content development, licensing, cloud computing and SaaS subscriptions, hosting and service level agreements, outsourcing, data rights, privacy, cybersecurity, blockchain and other online/Internet, website and e-commerce matters.
Dan also handles intellectual property matters across traditional business, new media and entertainment sectors. He represents public and closely held business clients in all forms of intellectual property negotiations, and occasionally, dispute resolution, including patent, copyright and trademark infringement actions, as well as complex computer system litigation.
He uses his expertise in intellectual property law, contracting practices and dispute resolution techniques to help clients – creators and users, buyers and sellers, licensors and licensees – to protect and grow their businesses.
For the past several years, Dan has authored (as successor to the late Professor Raymond Nimmer) the LEXIS-NEXIS treatise, The Law of Electronic Commercial Transactions. He has published numerous articles on intellectual property and information technology matters, including one on the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 in Intellectual Property Magazine and "Supreme Court Upholds ‘First Sale’ Doctrine," Impact IP, an Intellectual Property Law Newsletter, in March 2013.
Recognized for his expertise, Dan participated in a September 2018, invitation-only Congressional roundtable on “Legislating Certainty for Cryptocurrencies,” that addressed the regulatory treatment of blockchain tokens.
Active in the community, Dan has served as an adjunct faculty member at both Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where he has taught courses on intellectual property and Cyberlaw. Since being appointed by the Chief Judge in 2002 (and subsequently reappointed), he has served on the Panel of Neutrals for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, in which role he has mediated numerous technology and intellectual property disputes.
Dan has served on the board of OHTec (formerly NEOSA) for many years, on the Government Affairs Council of the Greater Cleveland Partnership for several years and was a long-time board member (and former chair) of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. He is a member of the Cleveland Metropolitan and American Bar Associations and a graduate of Leadership Cleveland.
Before law school, Dan worked as a systems analyst for General Motors. He served as a law clerk to Chief U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti, was admitted to the Attorney General’s Honors Program and practiced as a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department.
He later served as Director of the Office of School Monitoring and a Special Master for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He now serves on that Court’s ADR panel and has mediated multiple software and intellectual property disputes to settlement.
Dan began his tenure with Calfee in 1994 and became a Partner in 1998.
About Daniel J. McMullen
First Admitted: 1983, Ohio
Professional Webpage: https://www.calfee.com/professionals-daniel-j-mcmullen
Other Outstanding Achievements
- Law Clerk to Chief Judge, United States District Court, for the Northern District of Ohio, Honorable Frank J. Battisti, Cleveland, Ohio, 1982 to 1983
Representative Clients
- Medical Mutual of Ohio
- Asymmetric Technologies LLC
Bar/Professional Activity
- District of Columbia
- Ohio
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio; Mediator, Member of Panel of Neutrals, 2021
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Former Adjunct Faculty Member
- Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Former Adjunct Faculty Member (1990-2013)
- Harvard Law School Program of Instruction for Lawyers Negotiation Workshop, Teaching Staff (June 1994)
- OHTec (formerly NEOSA, The Northeast Ohio Software Association), Board Member, 2021
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Member, 2021
- Ohio State Bar Association, Computer Law Committee, Member, 2021
- American Bar Association, Science and Technology and Patent, Copyright and Trademark Law Section, Member, 2021
- Leadership Cleveland, Class of 1991
- Greater Cleveland Partnership, Government Affairs Council, 2021
Educational Background
- J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1982
- B.A., magna cum laude, Harvard College, 1978
Honors/Awards
- Copyright Law, The Best Lawyers in America©, 2021
- Ohio Super Lawyers, 2017
- AV Preeminent Rating, Martindale-Hubbell, 2021
- Named to the “Top-Rated Lawyers Guide to Intellectual Property Law”, Corporate Counsel, 2012
Pro bono/Community Service
- Greater Cleveland Media Development Corporation (Cleveland’s Film Commission), Former Board Chair, Member, 2021
- Time Integrated Media Environment Program, Cleveland Institute of Art, Former Advisory Committee Member
- Institute for Educational Renewal, Former Trustee
Industry Groups
- Banking
- Construction
- Education
- Entertainment
- Entrepreneurs and Emerging Companies
- Financial Services
- Government
- Health Care
- Information Technology
- Insurance
- International
- Life Sciences
- Manufacturing And Industrial
- Media and the Arts
- Medical Devices
- Pharmaceuticals
- Software
Additional Sources of Information About Daniel J. McMullen
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Last Updated: 5/15/2022