Tim Holbrook

Timothy (Tim) R. Holbrook (he/his/him) is an internationally recognized patent law and intellectual property scholar.  He has authored over fifty publications and has given over two hundred presentations around the world. His recent work has explored the impact of 3D printing on patent law, the extraterritorial reach of US patent and trademark laws, and the function of patent disclosures. He frequently comments on issues of intellectual property law in various media, including CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Scientific American, and Science. Holbrook's work has been cited in briefs before the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the court that hears all appeals in the US arising under the patent laws), and various district courts. The Federal Circuit and district courts have cited his work favorably. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and a Sustaining Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Holbrook has also been an advocate for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus (LGBTQ+) community. His commentary and op-eds have appeared in various outlets, including CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and Huffington Post. He previously served on the boards of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia. He was co-counsel for former National Football League players on briefs before the US Supreme Court advocating for marriage equality.

Holbrook's work appears in a variety of journals, most recently including Vanderbilt Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Iowa Law Review, Emory Law Journal, William & Mary Law Review, and Minnesota Law Review. He is the co-author of Patent Litigation and Strategy (5th ed.) with Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Judge John Murphy of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Holbrook graduated summa cum laude and as valedictorian from North Carolina State University, earning a BS in chemical engineering with a life sciences concentration. He received his JD from Yale Law School, where he served as a lead editor and publications director of the Yale Journal on Regulation. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Glenn L. Archer Jr. of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Following his clerkship, Holbrook worked in Budapest, Hungary, with the Hungarian patent law firm Danubia. Upon his return to the United States, he associated with the Washington, DC, law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding (now Wiley Rein), where his practice focused on patent and appellate litigation.

Having served as a visiting professor in 2009, Holbrook joined the Sturm College of Law faculty permanently in August 2023.  Prior to his appointment at DU, Holbrook was Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, where he served as Emory Law's associate dean of faculty from 2012 until 2015. Holbrook also served as the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs for Emory University from 2018-2022. In that position he oversaw activities that supported faculty recruitment, retention, and success at the university level. During his service as vice provost, he developed various mechanisms to support faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Holbrook started his academic career at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, were he earned tenure at the associate professor level. He served as Edwin A. Heafey Jr. Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and has taught as a visiting professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He was a scholar-in-residence at the Center for Media and Communication Studies at the Central European University (CEU) (Budapest, Hungary) and served as a visiting professor in CEU's Legal Studies Department. 

While in Chicago, Holbrook was a founder and the program chair for the Richard Linn Inn of Court. In Atlanta, he helped found the Atlanta Intellectual Property Inn of Court and served as its first president. For his work with the Inns of Court, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from the Linn Inn Alliance of Intellectual Property American Inns of Court. He also has served as an expert or consultant in a variety of patent litigation cases in the United States and abroad.

Holbrook has been awarded numerous awards for his teaching and work on inclusion, including the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, the Chesnut LGBT Person of the Year Award at Emory University, the Outstanding Service to the Community Award by the Stonewall Bar Association, the Friends in the Faculty Award from the Division of Campus Life at Emory, and the Professor of the Year by Emory's Black Law Students Association.

View CV

JD, Yale Law School
BS, Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University (summa cum laude)