About

Tom Dietrich turned passions for reading, tinkering, and beer into a career. He loves learning about clients’ creative works and products and strategizing about what intellectual property exists and how it can be protected. Tom works with video game developers and publishers, CPG companies, breweries, product designers, and others on all aspects of business and IP—handling trademark and copyright registration and management, mitigating litigation risks, preparing employment and independent contractor agreements and distribution contracts, and regularly interfacing with corporate leadership.

Tom has litigated cases over Spawn and The Walking Dead for Image Comics, defended patent lawsuits for Experian, and won a bench trial on trade dress infringement and six figures in damages for a well-known furniture designer. He has briefed and argued successfully in the Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, leading to two published opinions in favor of his clients. See Jason Scott Collection, Inc. v. Trendily Furniture, LLC, 68 F.4th 1203 (9th Cir. 2023), cert. denied, 144 S. Ct. 550 (2024) (affirming bench trial win on furniture trade dress); Trinity Info Media, LLC v. Covalent, Inc., 72 F.4th 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2023) (affirming grant of motion to dismiss patent claims brought against dating app client and finding patents invalid as abstract).

Before founding Dietrich IP, Tom practiced with international law firms Crowell & Moring and BakerHostetler. There he worked on patent, copyright, right of publicity, and trademark litigation for clients around the country. Tom helped a Fortune 500 client win a total victory in a patent case when the Patent Trial & Appeals Board invalidated two patents-in-suit based on petitions for review Tom wrote and discovery he gathered. Tom served as general counsel for a large publishing company, managing its IP portfolio, dealing with potential rights infringements, and drafting and negotiating publishing and licensing agreements. He also guided a Fortune 100 company’s internal investigation into allegations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by the DOJ and SEC.

Tom spends as much free time as he can with his family, enjoying the vast natural splendor surrounding Flagstaff. He’s a recovering ultrarunner learning to savor the beauty of going slow and taking a look around. If not outside, he’s likely reading.