Dustin D. Likens

Dustin works with clients to address their complex litigation needs. His practice focuses on patent, trademark and trade secret litigation for domestic and international companies. Dustin has experience in a variety of litigations across various adjudicative bodies such as federal district courts, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and federal courts of appeals.

Dustin’s intellectual property litigation experience has principally been in technical areas such as the mechanical arts, biotechnology, chemical arts, software, medical devices, consumer appliances, the automotive arts and radio transceivers. He has experience at all stages of litigation, such as pre-suit investigation (patent clearance, validity and infringement opinion, and freedom-to-operate analyses), initial fact discovery, claim construction, depositions, motions practice, expert discovery, trial and appeal. Dustin has a wide breadth of experience from navigating complicated discovery issues, intricate questions of law and case management of complex litigations with multiple defendants.

Dustin also has patent prosecution experience in the areas of chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. He further prosecutes various design patent cases relating to medical devices, the automotive arts and consumer goods.

A significant portion of Dustin’s practice focuses on counseling clients on managing risks and developing intellectual property strategies that protect against current and future competitive threats.

Dustin counsels clients in all aspects of trademark preparation and prosecution. In particular, he has conducted trademark right-to-use searches, drafted opinions and maintained trademark registrations throughout the entire trademark process.

As an Associate, Dustin regularly communicates and interacts with clients to ensure their various intellectual property needs are met.

Dustin earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from Cleveland State University College of Law in 2018 near the top of his class. While attending law school, Dustin served as Chief Managing Editor of the Cleveland State Law Review.

Dustin earned his B.A. in Chemistry and History with a minor in Political Science from Case Western Reserve University in 2015, where he graduated cum laude. He was a laboratory assistant for a professor studying the chemistry and biology of cystic fibrosis.

He joined Calfee in 2018.

Honors & Recognitions

• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation - Intellectual Property, and Litigation - Patent (2024-2025)
• Ohio Super Lawyers, Ohio Rising Stars, Intellectual Property (2023-2024)
• CALI Awards in Property, Legal Writing, Constitutional Law I, Sports Law, Immigration & Nationality Law, Constitutional Law II, and Copyright, Patent, & Trademark Law

Education

J.D., summa cum laude, Cleveland State University College of Law, 2018

B.A., cum laude, Case Western Reserve University, 2015

Experience

• Calfee is handling all aspects of three major IP projects for an American multinational medical devices and healthcare company, including (1) a current and emerging competitor monitoring project, which involves counseling the client regarding the activity of numerous competitors and potential competitors in the medical device space; (2) a competitor leverage project involving assisting the client with significant projects related to the assessment of key competitors, including analyzing key competitor products, identifying potentially relevant patents/patent families, evaluating potential infringement, and counseling the client regarding IP issues; and (3) a competitor IP analysis/monitoring project, which includes conducting monthly analyses of patent portfolios of several key competitors.
• Calfee is assisting an Asian manufacturing company with its U.S. patent and trademark filings while overseeing its entire global patent and trademark portfolios. Relatedly, Calfee represented the client in two separate International Trade Commission (ITC) investigations. At stake was whether the ITC would block the importation of several of the company’s products. Calfee obtained successful results for the client in both matters. Calfee also successfully defended the company on patent infringement allegations.