Joel D. Leviton

Joel co-chairs Stinson's Intellectual Property & Technology division and focuses his practice on trademark and copyright protection and counseling, technology transactions, and data privacy.

Trademark Counseling

Joel works closely with clients to develop global brand protection strategies and advises on selecting, clearing, registering, and enforcing trademarks in the U.S. and abroad. He manages global trademark portfolios for Fortune 500 companies and serves as outside trademark counsel to a variety of domestic and global companies, including in the fields of consumer products, interactive entertainment, medical devices, and apparel. Joel has considerable experience advising clients on identifying, developing, and protecting non-traditional trademarks such as trade dress to further build brand awareness and value. Joel also works with clients as they create and roll out advertising campaigns, providing counsel on advertising law issues, comparative advertising, false advertising, and social media issues.

Joel handles disputes involving trademarks, copyrights, and domain names, including litigation in federal courts and proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Joel has been listed in the World Trademark Review 1000 where clients commented that he "understands our situation intimately and has been very generous with his time. Frankness and hard work describe him to a tee. His communication is top-notch: he kept us updated throughout the loops and hoops of the legal processes and led us through thousands of pages of documents during discovery." A former adjunct professor of trademark law at William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law), Joel also has been a guest lecturer on copyright and trademark law at the University of Minnesota Walter Mondale School of Law.

Licensing and Technology Transactions

Joel routinely serves as lead counsel negotiating technology transactions involving software, information technology services, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and security issues. Joel balances incorporating security and appropriate vendor controls into each transaction while at the same time moving transactions to completion.

With roots in the arts, Joel helps clients protect and license creative content and brands. Joel has significant experience licensing and exploiting intellectual property, including negotiating and preparing trademark licenses, ingredient-branding licensing, co-branding arrangements, copyright-related agreements, sponsorship agreements, and name and likeness agreements.

Data Privacy and AI

Joel helps clients establish data privacy and security practices to comply with the ever-growing number of data privacy and security laws. With a network of data privacy professionals in countries throughout the world, Joel helps manage global data privacy compliance for multinational companies. Taking into account the evolving legal framework around AI and data privacy, Joel works with clients to develop practical and actionable AI policies.

Managing Intellectual Property, IP Stars – Trademark Star, 2024 & 2025

Recognized by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of Intellectual Property in Minnesota.

Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America^® list, 2014-2026 for Trademark Law

World Trademark Review 1000

• United States: Minnesota, Gold and Silver Bands, 2012 - Present

Named an "Up & Coming Lawyer" by Minnesota Lawyer in 2010

Named a "Forty Under 40" honoree by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal in 2009

Inaugural recipient of Springboard for the Arts' Clough & Post Distinguished Service in the Arts Award for serving the legal needs of Minnesota's arts community.