History
Joseph D. Murphy is currently the president of Meyer Capel. Following law school and a two-year clerkship with a federal district court judge, Mr. Murphy began his practice with a Wall Street law firm, gaining substantial experience in trademark licensing and intellectual property litigation. Subsequently, he moved to a Washington, D.C.-based firm, where his practice concentrated in franchise litigation and counseling. Since returning to Champaign-Urbana in 1994 to join Meyer Capel, he has focused his practice on a combination of intellectual property (including franchise licensing) and telecommunications.
Specialties
Mr. Murphy's intellectual property work includes counseling clients on copyright and trademark matters along with representing those clients in related litigation, particularly where those issues regard software and Internet applications. Mr. Murphy has litigated groundbreaking issues regarding the applicability of trademark principals to the Internet and has drafted several first-generation licenses for distributed application software. He has assisted in licensing a number of technologies from the University of Illinois and other institutions. Mr. Murphy's telecommunications work has included the representation of small independent local telephone companies, competitive wireless carriers, competitive local wireline carriers, interexchange resellers, and regional Bell companies.