Gerald O. Sweeney, Jr. is a partner located in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. He is a member of the firm's Litigation and Intellectual Property Departments. He is also a member of the Policyholder Insurance Recovery and Counseling, and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups.
Mr. Sweeney represents industrial and consumer product manufacturers and entertainment companies in patent, copyright and trademark infringement litigation, provides trademark and trade dress counseling and clearance opinions, and provides counseling regarding company domain-name disputes.
Mr. Sweeney's commercial litigation practice includes, among other things, the defense and prosecution of complex contracts and injunctive relief for trade secret misappropriation, as well as the litigation of royalty and software development and services agreement disputes. He has successfully litigated enforcement of long-term 100 percent requirements contracts valued in excess of $400 million, and has conducted international commercial arbitration in Singapore.
Mr. Sweeney's product liability representation has included automobile manufacturers in defense of post-collision fuel-fed fires; anti-lock brake, seat belt, seat back, axle and steering gear failures; side-impact protection, unwanted acceleration, park-to-reverse transmission defects, and electronic control module defects. He has defended residential garage door openers, industrial dock levelers, compressed gas cylinders, agricultural equipment, injection molding machines, industrial saws, aerial lifts, and a variety of other products.
Mr. Sweeney also represents clients in civil litigation in insurance policy coverage disputes.
Mr. Sweeney earned his B.A. cum laude in 1974 from DePauw University and his J.D. in 1979 from John Marshall Law School. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and New York state courts; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th Circuits; and the United States District Court for Colorado, the Central and Northern Districts of Illinois and the Northern and Southern Districts of New York.
Mr. Sweeney is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the Chicago and Illinois State Bar Associations, the International Bar Association, and the International Trademark Association (INTA). In 2010, he was selected as one of the Leading Lawyers in Illinois by the Leading Lawyers Network.