Daniel Kegan
With nearly four decades of practice, Daniel Kegan counsels individuals and companies on intellectual property and internet law matters with experience and integrity.
EXPERIENCE
Daniel Kegan counsels clients on copyrights and trademarks as well as legal issues relating to computers and the internet. An experienced litigator, he thoroughly understands intangible business assets – including computer software, websites, trade secrets, and contracts – and how to best protect them. He helps clients proactively defend their ideas and creations to help them achieve long-term success and often provides second opinions to other attorneys.
Daniel’s clients include creative professionals, entrepreneurs, small businesses, non-profits, and educational institutions among other influential individuals and groups. As an attorney and registered organizational psychologist with decades of practical business experience, he views each case from every angle to ensure as fair a resolution as possible on behalf of his clients.
Over the course of his career, Daniel has established an impactful presence in the intellectual property legal community. Past achievements include obtaining the first sensory or “touch” trademark in the United States on behalf of his client and obtaining the first copyright registration for an iconic computer program.
Daniel is committed to providing honest, individual, and personable service to his clients in whatever unique legal situation they may face. He values their ideas and works to ensure they secure necessary legal protections. Diverse in his professional interests, Daniel is involved with various industry organizations and related speaking engagements and lends his knowledge to a range of esteemed publications, including The Intellectual Property Newsletter of the Illinois State Bar Association and The Illinois Bar Journal.
PROFESSIONAL HONORS
- First Known Touch (Sensory) Trademark Registration
- First U.S. Copyright Registration for Non-Hierarchical Iconic Programming
- Inventor, Persuasion Organizer, and Calculator, U.S. Patent
- Qualified Expert Witness, Forensic Survey Research
- Super Lawyers, Intellectual Property, Illinois
- Who’s Who Lawyers
- Leading Illinois Attorneys, Intellectual Property and Computer Law
MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
- American Bar Association
- Survey Committee Chair
- Intellectual Property Law Section
- American Bar Foundation
- Chicago Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Copyright Society of the U.S.A.
- International Trademark Association
- American Psychological Association
- Illinois Psychological Association
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Publishing:
- Precedented Insufficient Memory: COVID-19 and Earlier Plagues, 59 Intellectual Property #4 (May 2020)
- Reviewed Who Owns the News? A History of Copyright, Will Slauter, 59 ISBA Intellectual Property #1, 1 (September 2019)
- First Copyright Principles for the First Lady’s Speech, 56 ISBA Intellectual Property 1 (September 2016)
- Hints from Experience: For Creatives: Contracts and Comfort; Life Extension for Lesser Known Works; Protection of Character, Place, and Thing Names, Illinois State Bar Association and Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (June 2015)
- Protecting and Preserving Author Rights in Today’s Market—and After Death: Contracts, Digital Publishing, & Literary Estates, Illinois State Bar Association and Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (June 2015)
- Electronically Stored Information and Reasonable Retention vs Hoarding, 54 ISBA Intellectual Property 5 (November 2014)
- Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Startups, 53 ISBA Intellectual Property #3, 1 (May 2014)
- Surveys, Science & Skepticism, 53 ISBA Intellectual Property #2 (January 2014)
- Winning Chances? Client Relations, Math, and Ethics, 50 ISBA Intellectual Property 1 (June 2011)
- The Grammar of Intellectual Property: Copyright is a Noun, Trademark is an Adjective, 49 ISBA Intellectual Property #3, 5 (March 2010)
- The Cycles Surveys: Longitudinal Indicators of the Quality of Student Life and a Framework for Evaluation and Administrative Experimentation. Evaluation Quarterly, #2, 2, 293-314 (May 1978)