Carol M. Wilhelm
Counsel

Many businesses don’t realize they have intellectual property issues until they receive a demand letter with allegations of infringement or see a conflicting use in the marketplace. I help clients avoid these situations with careful planning on the front end so they can be comfortable putting money behind their branding assets and be fully prepared and positioned to protect them when disputes arise.

Carol Wilhelm focuses her intellectual property practice in all areas of trademark, copyright and unfair competition, including prosecution, transactions, due diligence, litigation and client counseling. With over 25 years of experience managing soft IP portfolios for clients ranging from multi-national corporations to local startups, Carol has protected consumer and industrial brands across several industries, including healthcare, software, oil and gas, clothing, cosmetics, automotive, restaurants and many more. Her practice also encompasses general corporate matters and transactions.

Carol’s practice is largely devoted to advising clients throughout the entire life cycle of their trademark assets. She handles everything from helping clients navigate the minefield of potential conflicts in the clearance process and prosecuting applications to executing a pre-designed game plan if disputes arise down the road. Carol assesses each client’s unique goals and risk tolerance so they can invest in a trademark with confidence and start building brand equity.

Carol is also the firm’s go-to advisor on the intellectual property aspects of commercial transactions, including license agreements, services agreements, mergers and acquisitions, development agreements and supply agreements. She works with the firm’s transactional lawyers to ensure that clients sufficiently protect their intellectual property assets involved in a transaction, receive the benefits to which they’re entitled from their intellectual property assets and avoid inadvertent relinquishment or diminishment of their rights.

Thought Leadership / News
Honors
  • Named a Houstonia Magazine Top Lawyer in Houston (2018 - 2019)
Education
  • J.D., New York University School of Law (1992)
  • B.A., magna cum laude, Duke University (1989)
Bar Admissions
  • Texas (2001)
  • New York (1993)
Court Admissions
  • United States District Court, Southern District of Texas (2003)
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas (2002)
  • United States District Court, Northern District of Texas (2002)
  • United States Supreme Court (2002)
  • United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit (2002)
  • United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit (1994)
  • United States District Court, Southern District of New York (1994)
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of New York (1994)