Johnston IP Law: The Dallas Trademark Attorney Who Built a Billion-Dollar IP Portfolio

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At a Glance

Origin & Founder History

Robert “Bob” Johnston III holds an engineering degree from Baylor University (1989), an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University, and a J.D. from SMU’s Dedman School of Law with a focus on intellectual property. He began his career at large, multinational law firms before serving as chief intellectual property counsel for a technology startup that eventually reached a market capitalization over a billion dollars — direct in-house experience building and defending an IP portfolio through a company’s growth to that scale. He later founded Johnston IP Law as a boutique practice with more than 30 years of trademark experience.

Practice Concentration

Johnston IP Law concentrates on trademark and patent prosecution and broader IP strategy, serving clients across medical devices, oil and gas, software, hospitality, retail, aircraft, and energy industries. Johnston is registered to practice before the USPTO and holds memberships in the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Licensing Executive Society (LES), and the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) — the core professional bodies for trademark and licensing practice specifically.

Track Record

The firm cites its work helping a technology startup develop its intellectual property portfolio as part of preparing for a public offering, a process that eventually resulted in a billion-dollar market capitalization — a specific, named outcome rather than a generic scale claim, though attributed to the firm’s own account of the engagement.

Client Voice

A referral endorsement from an estate planning and probate attorney describes Johnston as “knowledgeable, prompt, and reliable,” specifically praising his ability to help clients understand IP succession and inheritance issues for inventors passing patents and trademarks to the next generation — a cross-referral relationship that speaks to reputation among other Dallas practitioners, though it is not itself a client review.

Beyond the Courtroom

Johnston chairs the Dallas Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section, a role that involves contributing to the growth and development of the local IP legal community. He is also a runner and licensed pilot.

Recognition

Johnston has been named a D Magazine Best Lawyer for intellectual property/trademark and copyright work in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and was selected to Texas Super Lawyers for 2025–2026 — both peer-recognition honors, attributed to their respective publications rather than restated as independent claims.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Trademark rights in the U.S. originate from use in commerce rather than registration alone, though federal registration through the USPTO under the Lanham Act provides significant additional benefits, including nationwide priority and a legal presumption of ownership. Texas also recognizes common-law trademark rights and unfair competition claims under state law that can run parallel to federal protection. None of this is legal advice; a business considering trademark registration or facing a potential infringement issue should consult counsel about the specific facts.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Bob Johnston’s differentiator is a genuinely rare vantage point: having served as in-house chief IP counsel for a company that scaled to a billion-dollar valuation, he brings a business-side perspective on IP strategy that a purely outside-counsel career doesn’t provide, and his continuous D Magazine Best Lawyer recognition across five consecutive years reflects sustained peer regard.

The honest trade-off is that this is a boutique built around trademark and patent prosecution and strategic counseling rather than a full-scale litigation practice — a business facing an active infringement lawsuit or a complex Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceeding may need a firm with a larger litigation bench. For a company building or managing a trademark and patent portfolio with an eye toward long-term value, Johnston’s specific in-house-informed background is a genuine asset.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (johnstonip.com), Robert Johnston’s Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, and D Magazine attorney profiles, State Bar of Texas licensing records, and Super Lawyers and FindLaw listings. The technology-startup IPO claim is drawn from the attorney’s own published biography and is attributed as such.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement. Facts in this profile were researched from public sources as described in the Methodology & Sourcing section and are current only as of the research date.