Martindale-Hubbell® AV Peer Review Rated

Thor Urness practices in the areas of complex business litigation and intellectual property litigation and related counseling.  Thor's practice is generally divided equally between matters in Tennessee and other parts of the country.

Thor is recognized in the following:

• The Best Lawyers in America® 2009, for Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Law
• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2008, for Commercial Litigation
• Benchmark: Litigation 2009, for Complex Business and Intellectual Property Litigation
• Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition 2008, for Business Litigation
• Mid-South Super Lawyers 2008, 2007 for Business Litigation; Mid-South Super Lawyers Top 100 Tennessee and Mid-South Super Lawyers 2006, for Intellectual Property Litigation
• Nashville Business Journal's  "Best of the Bar" for Intellectual Property Law 2006, 2003
• VerdictSearch 100 Top Jury Verdicts of 2004, for $26.5 million verdict against HCA subsidiary

Business Litigation:  Thor has litigated many types of business disputes, including business tort, insurance coverage, noncompetition and employment, contract and UCC, and defamation suits.  Thor has particular expertise in computer performance litigation and automotive supplier disputes .  Thor's cases have also included a major proxy contest, state attorney general investigations, class actions against the State of Tennessee, products liability, mass tort, employment discrimination, commercial real estate, antitrust, civil RICO, and securities fraud lawsuits.

Intellectual Property and e-Commerce:  Much of Thor's practice is devoted to intellectual property litigation, including trade secret, trademark, copyright , patent and unfair competition claims.  These matters have included trademark infringement, copyright infringement, domain name disputes, trade secrets and economic espionage cases, patent, including meta-tag and First Amendment claims, trade secret misappropriation via the Internet (including litigation under the federal Economic Espionage Act), and spamming and computer hacking cases.  In connection with his transactional counseling.  Thor has represented companies engaged in e-Commerce activities, including software developers, publishers, manufacturers, and marketers, handling issues including entity formation, trademark registrations, licensing, marketing, operating, services, affiliate, development and hosting agreements, web site legal notices copyright and privacy matters.

Thor has represented manufacturers and service providers in commercial and intellectual property litigation under federal and state law in many jurisdictions, including trials in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania and litigation in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.

Alternative Dispute Resolution/Mediation: Thor has also served as a mediator and has represented clients in the arbitration, mediation and early neutral evaluation forms of alternative dispute resolution.  He has qualified as a Rule 31 General Civil Mediator by the Tennessee Supreme Court Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Thor is a frequent speaker and has presented Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars on many litigation and intellectual property subjects.  Thor also speaks regularly to professional organizations, including the Nashville Technology Council, on Internet and technology related issues.

Thor has served as Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association's Intellectual Property Section and Chair of the Nashville Bar Association's Intellectual Property Committee and led the initiative that resulted in Tennessee's adoption of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (2000).

Thor is a member of the boards of directors of the Nashville Pro Bono Program, Tennessee Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and the Fifty Forward (formerly Senior Citizens, Inc.) Endowment and serves on the Vestry of Christ Church Cathedral.  Thor previously served as the Pro Bono Member for Boult Cummings Conners & Berry PLC and on the board of trustees and as legal counsel for Senior Citizens, Inc.  He volunteers for a variety of religious and community organizations in the Nashville area.

02/01/2007	Recent Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Will Your Business be Affected?
01/01/2004	Pro Bono Policy Adoption by Law Firms: How is it Working?
03/01/2003	Arbitration of Domain Name Disputes
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12/02/2008	Thirty-Seven Boult Cummings Attorneys Named to The Best Lawyers in America® 2009
11/18/2008	Five Boult Cummings Attorneys Included in Benchmark: Litigation 2009
11/10/2008	Seventeen Attorneys from Boult Cummings Named to Mid-South Super Lawyers 2008
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11/14/2008	Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association Fall 2008 Meeting
03/04/2008	What an In-House Counsel Needs to Know About Intellectual Property
04/05/2007	The New Frontier - Mobile Applications
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