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Garlick & Markison: Attorney or Agent of Record on More Than 5,000 Issued Patents

Bruce Garlick’s name appears as attorney or agent of record on more than 5,000 issued U.S. patents — a volume that reflects three decades of building patent portfolios for clients from near-zero counts into the thousands. “Patents Are a Business Within Your Business” is the firm’s stated philosophy, treating IP portfolio strategy as an ongoing partnership rather than a one-time filing service.

Origin and Background

Garlick & Markison is based at 2025 Guadalupe Street, Suite 260, Austin, TX 78705. Founder Bruce Garlick has been a licensed patent attorney since 1992, holds multiple degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a J.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, and worked as an electrical engineer in Austin before earning his law degree. Co-founder Tim Markison has been a licensed patent attorney since 1993 and a licensed patent agent since 1989, with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Practice Concentration

The firm’s practice centers on strategic patent development — identifying, expanding, prosecuting, and monetizing client inventions as an ongoing partnership rather than isolated filings — with every practitioner holding a background in electrical engineering or software and most holding advanced technical degrees alongside their law degrees. Partner Shayne Short holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all in Electrical Engineering. The firm also provides litigation support, including infringement analysis and expert witness services, investigating potentially infringing products and preparing claim charts in first- and second-chair litigation roles. See this Austin Intellectual Property directory for how this deeply technical, portfolio-strategy-focused boutique compares to general IP practices.

Notable Work / Track Record

Bruce Garlick is listed as attorney or agent of record on more than 5,000 issued U.S. patents over his career, and has served as lead counsel in multiple patent lawsuits, including documented litigation such as Under Armour, Inc. v. Athalonz, LLC. These figures and named matters are independently verifiable through USPTO records and court filings rather than aggregate self-reported claims.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not locate a substantial independent consumer review platform sample for this firm; several attorney profiles show no listed peer or client reviews on Martindale.com and FindLaw. Awesome Attorneys discloses this gap directly rather than inferring client satisfaction from patent volume alone.

Beyond the Courtroom

Awesome Attorneys did not identify specific named civic or nonprofit board service for the firm’s founding attorneys distinct from their direct client work, though Bruce Garlick’s engineering-to-law career path and Tim Markison’s separate role as founder and CEO of a technology company (Athalonz, LLC) reflect direct entrepreneurial experience beyond legal practice alone.

Recognition for This Austin IP Firm

Awesome Attorneys did not identify third-party peer-review awards (Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Chambers) for this firm’s attorneys in the sources reviewed. Bruce Garlick’s documented record as attorney or agent of record on more than 5,000 issued U.S. patents, along with his and his partners’ federal district court and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals admissions, are independently verifiable credentials distinct from formal peer-review recognition.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Patent portfolio strategy — the firm’s stated specialty — often requires balancing what to file publicly as a patent against what to protect as a trade secret under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, since public patent disclosure and trade secret protection are mutually exclusive for the same information. Post-grant proceedings, another area of the firm’s stated experience, allow challenges to already-issued patents before the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board rather than in federal district court. None of this is legal advice; a specific patent or IP portfolio matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Garlick & Markison’s clearest differentiator is a genuinely rare volume credential — more than 5,000 issued patents with Bruce Garlick as attorney or agent of record — combined with a team where every practitioner holds real electrical engineering or software technical depth, several with doctoral-level credentials. The honest trade-off is that Awesome Attorneys did not identify third-party peer-review recognition or a substantial independent review sample for this firm, so a client should verify current attorney availability and fit directly. For a technology company or inventor that wants an ongoing, strategic patent portfolio partner with genuinely deep engineering credentials and a documented multi-thousand-patent track record, that combination is a strong basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Garlick & Markison’s own website (attorney biography for Bruce E. Garlick and team page), LinkedIn’s firm profile, and USPTO petition filing documentation for Timothy W. Markison.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Garlick & Markison or its attorneys prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.