Terry L. Watt

Dr. Terry Watt is a registered patent attorney with expertise in intellectual property (IP) law, particularly as it applies to high technology and software-driven innovations. His practice centers on securing, protecting, and enforcing a wide range of IP rights, including rights associated with patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights.  

He regularly advises clients on complex IP issues spanning diverse technical fields. His patent practice includes wide variety of pending applications and issued patents involving mechanical inventions as well as cutting-edge technologies such as signal processing, artificial intelligence, drone control systems, and medical imaging.

Dr. Watt manages a global patent portfolio and helps clients obtain IP protection in key markets worldwide. In addition to his legal practice, he serves as an adjunct professor in the Purdue Global Law School. 

He regularly counsels clients in all aspects of IP, including:

• Obtaining and litigating patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights;
• Drafting and reviewing IP licensing agreements;
• Conducting inter partes reviews in the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office; and
• Conducting due diligence IP reviews. 

Education

• University of Tulsa, J.D., with Honors, 1995
• University of Tulsa, M.B.A. (Finance), 1988
• University of Tulsa, Ph.D. (Geophysics), 1984
• Princeton University, M.A. (Statistics), 1977
• University of Tulsa, B.A. (Mathematics), 1975

Honors and Awards

• Best Lawyers in America®, Copyright, Patent, Litigation – Intellectual Property, Trademark (2010–2019)
• Best Lawyer of the Year, Patent (2014–2016)
• Lawyer of the Year (Tulsa), Copyright (2019)
• Oklahoma Super Lawyers® (2012–2021)
• Chambers® ranked lawyer in Intellectual Property (2014–2023)

Bar Admissions

• Oklahoma, 1995
• Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1996
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, 1995
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, 2010
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2012

Publications

• “The $3 Million Copyright Mistake”, The Journal Record, June 15, 2022
• “Decedent’s Right of Publicity in Oklahoma”, The Journal Record, September 28, 2021
• “Protecting Trade Secrets with a Remote Work Force”, The Journal Record, April 8, 2021
• “Not All Copying is Copyright Infringement”, The Oklahoman, July 21, 2019, p. C3
• “How to Effectively Handle Gripe Sites”, The Tulsa World, October 7, 2018, p. E2
• “Bird in the Hand – Are Tweets Considered Intellectual Property?”, The Oklahoman, August 19, 2018, p. 2C
• “Contractor owns software, not business”, Tulsa World, September 17, 2017
• “Dealing with a Software Copyright Audit”, Journal Record, July 20, 2016
• “Common Mistakes Made by Inventors”, Journal Record, June 8, 2016
• “Protecting your Company’s Trade Secrets”, Journal Record, March 16, 2016
• “Trademark Tips”, Journal Record, September 25, 2015
• Published Interview: “NFL team name ruling could change game for state schools”, Journal Record, June 20, 2014
• “Numerical Analysis for the Geological Sciences”, Technometrics, August 1996, book review
• Internet Training Course for Tulsa University Law Students, published in Research Instruction Caucus Teach-in, April 9–15, 1995
• “Applied Statistics: A First Course,” 32 Technometrics 224 (1990), book review
• The Kurzweil 1000 Series Operations Guide (Alexander Press, 1989), synthesizer programming book
• Ph.D. Dissertation: Some Applications of Robust Statistical Procedures to Problems in Seismic Signal Processing, 1984

With Co-Authors

• “L1 Deconvolution and Its Application to Seismic Signal Processing”, 34 IEEE ASSP 1655 (1986)
• “Calculating the Complex Cepstrum Without Phase Unwrapping or Integration”, 33 IEEE ASSP 1014 (1985), presented at ICASSP, Toronto 1984
• “Fast Algorithms for LP Deconvolution”, 33 IEEE ASSP 174 (1985)
• “Alpha-Trimmed Means and Their Relationship to Median Filters”, 32 IEEE ASSP 145 (1984)
• “The Role of the Alpha-Trimmed Mean in Combining and Analyzing Seismic Common-Depth-Point Gathers”, presented at SEG Annual Convention, Las Vegas, November 1983

Professional Memberships

• American Intellectual Property Law Association
• Oklahoma Bar Association
• Tulsa County Bar Association

Community Leadership & Activities

• Chair, “Information Services and Communications” Committee, TU Law Alumni Board, 2005–2011
• Past President, Intellectual Property Section, Oklahoma Bar Association
• Past President, Princeton Club of Tulsa
• Semi-professional musician (jazz, blues, and rock keyboard)

Speaking Engagements & Presentations

• “Intellectual Property and Social Media”, 5-module video lecture series, Purdue Global Law School, June 2023
• “Intellectual Property for the General Practitioner”, Purdue Global Law School, April 13, 2021
• “Patent 101: Counseling Clients re Patent Issues”, OBA CLE, Dec. 16, 2014
• “The Art of Copyright: What Every Working Artist Needs to Know”, Green Country Water Color Association, April 10, 2014
• “There Ought to Be a Law: Questionable Internet Practices and the Law”, NALS (Tulsa), Feb. 26, 2008
• “Fair Use and Other Murky Copyright Concepts”, Oklahoma State University, Sept. 26, 2007
• “Firmly in the Gray: Questionable Internet Programming Practices and Legal Theories”
  •  – University of Tulsa Technology Law Student Association, Sept. 2005
  •  – Tulsa Association of Computer Systems Management, March 2006
  •  – OBA IP Section Mid-Year Meeting, June 2006
  •  – Tulsa Bar Association IP CLE, Dec. 2006
• “Software Protection through Copyright and Patent”, Oklahoma Investment Forum, May 3, 2005
• “Copyright Ownership of Joint Works”, OSU, 2005
• “What Every Oil and Gas Practitioner Should Know About Intellectual Property”, Eugene Kuntz Conference, Nov. 12, 2004
• “Who is an Inventor?”, OSU, April 2004
• “The Business of Copyright”, Tulsa Rotary Club (2003), Bartlesville Kiwanis (2004)
• “The Art of Copyright”, Bartlesville Art Association, February 2003
• “Internet Jurisdiction: The Really Long Arm of the Law”, OBA Cyberspace Law Symposium, March 2001
• “Statistics and the Courts: Bridging the Divide”, American Statistical Association (OK Chapter), February 2001
• “Pitfalls for Small Businesses in E-commerce”, OBA Annual Meeting, November 2000
• “IP for the General Practitioner: Common Copyright Questions”, Tulsa Bar Association, August 1999
• “Emerging Issues in IP Law”, OBA CLE Symposium, March 1999 (OKC and Tulsa)

University Courses Taught

• “Intellectual Property Survey”, Purdue Global Law School (2017, 2018, 2023, 2024)
• “Patent Law Fundamentals”, Purdue Global Law School (2009–2020)
• “Patent Claim Drafting”, Purdue Global Law School (2011–2019)
• “Patent Litigation”, Purdue Global Law School (2011–2017)
• “Trademark Law”, TU Law School (Fall 2002–2008)
• “Patent Law”, TU Law School (Spring 2003, 2004)
• “Intellectual Property Law”, TU Law School (Fall 1998, 1999)
• “Statistics and the Law”, TU College of Law (Spring 1996)
• “Statistical Methods in Geophysics”, TU Dept. of Geophysics (Spring 1990)
• “Geophysical Signal Processing”, TU (Fall 1989)
• “Stochastic Systems”, Oklahoma State University (Summer 1988)
• “Business Statistics”, TU MBA Program (Spring 1988)
• “Ordinary Differential Equations”, TU (Spring 1984–1985)
• “Calculus III”, TU (Fall 1983–1984)