Our co-founder, Robert P. Simpson, has a long and distinguished history in the automation of patent and trademark practice. In 1994, his company, LegalStar, was the first company in the world to automate the hundreds of forms used by attorneys and paralegals who practice intellectual property law. By 2002, with more than 3000 law firms and companies using his company’s products, more than 50% of all paper forms received annually by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office were produced by LegalStar’s software. In June of 2002, Mr. Simpson’s company was one of only five companies to contract with the USPTO to develop electronic filing software for patent applications. Some of the first patent applications filed electronically with the USPTO were filed in 2003 by Mr. Simpson’s law firm, Simpson & Simpson, PLLC, using software co-developed by our founder.

Mr. Simpson brings 30 years of extensive trademark experience to TrademarkShoppe. He has personally conducted hundreds of trademark searches, rendered hundreds of opinions, and prepared, filed and successfully prosecuted hundreds of trademark applications. He has also successfully handled trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings. He is admitted to practice in New York, Florida, Connecticut and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is Board Certified in Intellectual Property by the Florida Bar, an honor bestowed upon only the top 7% of attorneys in Florida. He also holds an AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell, signifying that a lawyer has reached the heights of professional excellence, and has been recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He has been honored by his peers many times by Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Professor Simpson is also an accomplished teacher, serving as Adjunct Professor of Patent Law at SUNY at Buffalo Law School for more than a decade, as Adjunct Professor of Trademark Law at Hilbert College, and as Adjunct Professor of Law Office Technology at Daemen College, where he teaches paralegal students how to work more efficiently with software applications.