About the author

My name is D. C. Toedt. Thanks for stopping by this blog.

My email address is dc ahtt toedt daht cahm (spelled out that way to fake out spambots). Here’s perhaps more information than you really care to know about me:

I’ve been an intellectual-property lawyer for more than 25 years; I’m based in Houston and am licensed in both Texas and California (I’m on inactive status in the latter). I was formerly a partner and member of the management committee at one of the largest IP-boutique law firms in the United States. I left the firm to become vice-president and general counsel of one of my clients, a software company that I had represented since its start-up, which had gone public not long before. I served in that position until the company’s successful “exit” (we were acquired by our field’s global leader). Since then, I’ve had my own law practice. For many years I’ve held an “AV” (highest) rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer-review survey.

I teach a course in advanced contract drafting as an adjunct law professor at the University of Houston. I’ve been a frequent invited speaker at national and regional continuing-legal-education (CLE) conferences. I’ve published a fair number of legal articles over the years; here’s a partial list. I was lead author of the first edition of a legal treatise, THE LAW AND BUSINESS OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE, published by West, and did its annual updates for more than 10 years. I’ve long been active in professional associations, and was formerly a member of the governing council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law.

I earned my law degree at the University of Texas at Austin, where I was on law review. My undergraduate degree is also from UT Austin; I majored in math and was graduated with high honors. In between college and law school I served my ROTC scholarship payback time as a U.S. Navy nuclear engineering officer, including three years of sea duty.

Disclaimer: Any views I might express here are my own and not necessarily those of my clients, my former employer, my former law firm, etc., etc.