Nicholas P. Brankle

Nick focuses his practice on intellectual property and technology matters, and assists a diverse array of clients in building, commercializing, protecting, and enforcing their intangible assets. Clients from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies look to Nick for help in navigating the development, protection, licensing, use, and commercialization of creative, intellectual, and other intangible properties such as patents, trademarks, data, trade secrets, artificial intelligence technologies, and software. He counsels clients on compliance with laws in connection with the development and use of such intangible assets and assessment of risk associated with the use of IP and technology (including AI), and provides risk management counseling in connection with IP and technology-related issues, including open source software, open source data, and AI applications.

His practice also involves providing strategic counsel to clients in connection with intellectual property portfolio and innovation management, and intellectual property-related issues in the context of transactions such as joint ventures, acquisitions and divestitures.

In addition, Nick also practices in the areas of privacy, cybersecurity and information management. He has worked with clients to develop and implement privacy and data security programs to ensure compliance with regulations, litigation trends, and laws including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

• Panelist, “Smart Deals, Safe Data: Navigating AI Vendor Contracts & Risk,” Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Summit, Sept. 17, 2025.
• Co-author, “Top 5 Ways Software Vendors Try to Mislead You,” The Illinois Manufacturer Q1 2023 (with Jillian Cole and Marcus Harris).