When Mr. Guy Matthews established his law firm in 1972, he did so with the vision of serving two distinct but related purposes: to protect intellectual property rights and enforce those rights through litigation. Matthews, Lawson, McCutcheon & Joseph, PLLC has been built around these two core missions to become a leading law firm committed to helping their clients to strengthen their intellectual property rights. We found out how the firm has adapted over the years, led by Mr. Matthews, to maintain its top tier position in a sector that is constantly evolving.
Matthews, Lawson, McCutcheon & Joseph, PLLC is a specialist law practice operating in offices across Texas and South, LA committed to serving two principal purposes: the protection of intellectual property rights and the enforcement of those rights through litigation.
The firm therefore offers services in the prosecution of domestic and foreign patent and trademark applications, licensing, and opining, for example, on patentability, infringement, invalidity, and registrability through the firm’s Intellectual Property Prosecution section. MLMJ’s Litigation section focuses on complex litigation pertaining to intellectual property rights and business torts. In effect, the firm’s services are devoted to thoroughly protecting all the products of its clients’ carefully curated ideas.
Operating since 1972, the firm’s leading partners share more than a century of combined experience in assisting plaintiffs and defendants through complex legal matters. As an organization, MLMJ has successfully managed a broad spectrum of cases that includes injunctions against government entities such as the State of Texas, patent infringement trials that were drawn out over many weeks, and lodging and defending prosecution-related matters before the USPTO and appellate boards and courts.
In order to achieve its goal to help clients strengthen their intellectual property rights through prosecution and, when required, litigation, the firm knows more than most the value of working harder and more diligently than any of the competition. MLMJ is set apart in its outstanding success because the firm does not just win the suits it should, but those it shouldn’t too.
What principally drives the team at MLMJ is the company’s founding mission to give and produce a good product for a fair value. As a result, whilst working hard to ensure the best possible outcome for their clients, the firm will always act in strict accordance to its ethical code that was implemented by Founder Mr. Guy Matthews when he first opened the firm almost fifty years ago. From his experience in the patent office to training in prosecution, Mr. Matthews learned early on in his career the importance of honesty and transparency. As such, the firm ensures everything they do is clearly disclosed without omission or exaggeration.
The result is a company culture which clients can rely on, reassured in the knowledge that their case is being carried out ethically, honestly and in their best interests. MLMJ serves a broad spectrum of clients, acquired organically over the years without aggressively approaching them, in keeping with the firm’s strict code of ethics. In order to establish the best possible outcome for their clients, the team at MLMJ works closely with them, recognizing that most clients do not want to be involved in litigation matters and therefore acting as a guide and counselor on litigation avoidance.
Consequently, Mr. Matthews considers his team to be integral to the success of the firm. More like a family than a team of colleagues, MLMJ takes care of its people to encourage personal and professional growth which translates to business development as a whole. This enables the firm to skillfully adapt and evolve in accordance to the changes of the industry, ensuring that their clients are always given relevant, insightful advice that makes even the most complex legal issues more manageable. As such, recruitment is taken very seriously within the firm, as balancing progression and adaptation in the constantly evolving sector of intellectual property law with recruiting and training up young and new recruits is a challenge in itself.
Despite being a well-established firm operating for almost half a century, MLMJ prides itself on staying at the cutting-edge of its sector, investing time and effort into ensuring that their services are always relevant and topical. The firm’s ability to do this is enhanced by the strength of its associates and leadership, which is headed by the Principal, Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Matthews is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the state courts of Texas, the federal district courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., and the United States Supreme Court.
A graduate of the University of Texas and the University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Matthews began his career in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as a Patent Examiner and attended George Washington University Law School, concentrating on intellectual property related courses covering patent prosecution and litigation. He returned to Houston to join the patent law firm which soon became Pravel, Wilson and Matthews, before breaking away to begin his own firm in 1972, which focused on the litigation of intellectual property matters.
Throughout his prolific career, Mr. Matthews has served as lead counsel in many jury trials representing both plaintiffs and defendants throughout the United States and Western Europe, obtaining recoveries of $1 million, $10 million, and $50 million, including a jury verdict in excess of $350 million. During this time, he has litigated every type of intellectual property issue, including patent, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, and copyright cases, whilst also serving as a court-appointed special master over intellectual property issues. Mr. Matthews has also testified as an expert witness in numerous, highly technical business tort and patient litigation matters.
Mr. Matthews’ prolific career and national acclaim has earned him awards and notable positions throughout his career. He is a fellow member of the Houston Bar Association and a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar, and the Fifth Circuit Bar. He is also active in the American Intellectual
Property Lawyers Association and the Houston Intellectual Property Lawyers Association. His long career that has garnered unparalleled experience and expertise has resulted in invitations to lecture at several bar and association meetings on the selection of juries for the trial of patent cases.
As MLMJ nears its fiftieth year of operation, Mr. Matthews says that he remains excited about the practice and its ability to continually deal with the ever-changing nature of the industry for the firm and its clients. We look forward to seeing the continued development and success of MLMJ for many years to come.