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Gunn, Lee & Cave: The San Antonio Patent Firm Whose Founding Attorney Helped Prosecute the Apollo Program’s Patents

Before he ever argued an intellectual property case in a Texas courtroom, Ted D. Lee was a cooperative-education patent agent at NASA working on the Saturn Apollo program — and two of the patent applications he helped prosecute, U.S. Patents 3,526,372 and 4,870,709, covered technology used in putting a man on the moon. More than five decades later, that same patent-drafting discipline anchors Gunn, Lee & Cave, P.C., a San Antonio firm built entirely around patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Origin and Background

Gunn, Lee & Cave, P.C. is located at Callaghan Tower, 8023 Vantage Drive, Suite 1500, San Antonio, TX 78230, confirmed through the firm’s own website and its BBB file, which has been open since 1986. The firm traces its lineage through predecessor partnerships Gunn, Lee and Jackson and Gunn, Lee & Miller before reorganizing under its current name in 1998. Founding Shareholder Ted D. Lee earned his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University, has been licensed in Texas since 1973, and has been registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 1971. Before entering private practice, Lee served as a Captain and Staff Judge Advocate in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1973, trying courts martial cases. Fellow named partner John C. Cave has been licensed in Texas since 1992 and is likewise registered before the USPTO.

Practice Concentration

The firm is a dedicated intellectual property practice covering patent prosecution and litigation, trademark prosecution and enforcement, copyright registration and disputes, trade secret protection and misappropriation litigation, IP-related contract drafting and licensing negotiation, and mediation of intellectual property conflicts, with in-house litigation and appellate capability rather than referral-out litigation. Martindale lists eight lawyers practicing at this office across patents, trademarks, copyrights, and related commercial litigation. Lee’s own patent prosecution work has concentrated in electrical and electro-mechanical technologies, while the broader team’s case history spans trade secret disputes over confidential formulas to patent infringement litigation involving complex electronic control systems. See this San Antonio Intellectual Property directory for how this litigation-focused boutique compares to solo practices and large-firm satellite offices also serving Bexar County.

Notable Work / Track Record

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published, itemized table of settlement or verdict figures on the firm’s website. Gunn, Lee & Cave instead publishes a Representative Cases page describing the range of matter types it has litigated and prosecuted rather than attaching dollar figures to individual outcomes, which is a common practice among IP boutiques where confidentiality provisions frequently limit public disclosure of settlement terms. What is independently verifiable is Lee’s role prosecuting patent applications later issued as part of the Apollo program’s patent portfolio, and the firm’s sustained, decades-long concentration in a single practice area.

Client Voice

Gunn, Lee & Cave carries an AV Preeminent Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the platform’s highest peer-review distinction, along with a 2025 Martindale “Distinguished” rating and an Avvo Client’s Choice Award. Two of its attorneys, Nick Guinn and Miguel Villarreal Jr., have been selected to Texas Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published set of itemized, attributed client reviews for the firm on Lawyers.com or Martindale as of this profile’s research date — both platforms note the firm’s attorneys had no client reviews posted at the time of review, which stands in some contrast to the firm’s strong peer-review standing built primarily on attorney-to-attorney evaluation rather than client-facing review volume.

Beyond the Courtroom

Ted Lee’s community record is unusually well documented: past president of the Ronald McDonald House of San Antonio, former Chairman of the Eagle District for the Boy Scouts of America’s Alamo Area Council, a former board member of the YMCA, past president of both the Notre Dame Alumni Club of San Antonio and the Texas Chapter of the Explorer’s Club, and a volunteer with the Leukemia Society of San Antonio. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Business Torts at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Awesome Attorneys did not identify comparable individually documented civic service records for the firm’s other named attorneys.

Recognition for This San Antonio IP Firm

Ted Lee is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a genuine, verified TBLS credential — but Awesome Attorneys did not identify, and does not apply, “specialist” language specifically for intellectual property law, because no distinct TBLS board-certification track currently exists in Texas for that specialty. The firm’s recognition instead rests on Martindale’s AV Preeminent peer rating, its 2025 Distinguished designation, Avvo’s Client’s Choice designation, and Super Lawyers selections for two of its attorneys — credentials built primarily on peer and platform evaluation rather than a state specialty-certification board.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Trade secret claims handled by this firm are governed by the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which allows injunctive relief and damages for misappropriation of information that derives independent economic value from not being generally known and is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. Patent prosecution and litigation, meanwhile, proceed under federal law before the USPTO and federal courts rather than Texas state law, which is why registration before the USPTO — not a Texas Bar credential alone — is the threshold qualification for handling patent matters. Trademark and copyright disputes can proceed in either Texas state courts or federal court depending on the claims asserted. None of this is legal advice; a specific patent, trademark, copyright, or trade secret matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney registered in the relevant forum based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Gunn, Lee & Cave’s clearest differentiator is uncommon institutional depth in a single practice area: a founding attorney with patent prosecution roots in the Apollo program, in-house litigation and appellate capability rather than referral-based representation, and a sustained AV Preeminent peer rating built over decades. The honest trade-off is that the firm’s public-facing case results are described qualitatively rather than with itemized dollar figures, and its strongest third-party validation comes from peer review platforms rather than a large volume of published, attributed client reviews. For a San Antonio inventor or business that wants a boutique IP firm with genuine litigation teeth and a founding attorney whose career predates the modern patent bar as most clients would recognize it, that combination is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Gunn, Lee & Cave’s own website (firm history, attorney biography pages, practice area pages), Ted D. Lee’s detailed attorney biography including his published works and professional associations, Martindale-Hubbell’s firm and attorney profiles, the firm’s Better Business Bureau file, and Super Lawyers’ firm directory listing.

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 Gunn, Lee & Cave, P.C. 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.