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Daniel J. McMullen

Attorney Profile

Top Rated Technology Transactions Attorney in Cleveland, OH

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP
1405 East Sixth Street
Cleveland, OH 44114
Visit: https://www.calfee.com
Phone: 216-622-8656
Fax: 216-241-0816
Email: Daniel J. McMullen
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2013 - 2017
Licensed in Ohio Since: 1983
Education: Harvard Law School
Practice Areas: Technology Transactions, Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Litigation
Attorney Profile

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

Newsletters

  • Amazon recently made a change to the enrollment requirements for its Amazon Brand Registry program that will help those who wish to avail themselves of the benefits of the program to enroll more quickly. Unfortunately, this change also creates significantly more opportunity for the program to be used in ways that could disrupt legitimate commercial activity., The Amazon Brand Registry – Now Bigger and "Badder?"
  • On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a decision in which it: (1) invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework as a legal basis for transferring personal data from the EU to the U.S.; and (2) upheld the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses as a mechanism for transferring personal data out of the EU in general, but arguably called into question whether such Clauses remain a viable compliance mechanism for transferring personal data from the EU to the U.S., Europe's Highest Court Invalidates EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework
  • In a recent 5-4 decision in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., the Supreme Court of the United States relied on the “government edicts” doctrine to preclude the State of Georgia from claiming copyright protection in certain works authored by its legislative bodies. The basis for this doctrine is that no party “can own the law.” The works in question were the portions of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”) other than the actual laws – i.e., non-binding material such as summaries of judicial decisions, attorney general opinions, editor’s notes and other commentary concerning the code provisions. These annotation materials were created by a contractor (Lexis) under a work-made-for-hire agreement that by law made the State of Georgia the author and owner of the copyright in such materials. In exchange for its extensive role in creating the annotation materials, Lexis had exclusive rights that precluded others from reproducing or distributing the OCGA code in full. The decision in Public.Resource.Org has significant ramifications for the legal publishing industry, as many other states and territories also rely on contractors to create annotation materials for their legislative codes., Supreme Court Confirms That States Do Not Own a Copyright in Their Laws

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
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Office Location for Daniel J. McMullen

1405 East Sixth Street
Cleveland, OH 44114

Last Updated: 5/15/2022

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