Harness IP is pleased to share that IP attorney Bryan Wheelock has been named to the 2022 list of “100 St. Louisans You Should Know to Succeed in Business” by St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Honorees are chosen by a panel of community leaders based on their contributions to the St. Louis business community.

Wheelock has been a proud St. Louisan since he moved to the city to attend law school at Washington University in St. Louis. He has since helped many St. Louis and Missouri-based organizations and companies obtain, license, and protect IP rights, and was a founding Principal when Harness IP opened its St. Louis office in 2000.

One of Wheelock’s first clients with Harness IP was an innovative medical device company for which he obtained more than 100 patents. His efforts helped earn the company recognition from engineering association IEEE for having one of the best patent portfolios for a company its size. The patents further served as an important part of the company’s strategy for obtaining investors when went public in 2004.

He has also helped local entrepreneurs, including an inventor who developed a children’s toy that achieved massive success. The inventor gathered financing to obtain a patent and make a production run of about 30,000 units of the toy. He then sold the toys to local string of big box retailers, catching the eye of a major toy manufacturer in the process. The manufacturer subsequently offered to buy the rights to the toy for a great sum of money, allowing the inventor to live very comfortably since then.

Outside of the office, Wheelock is a dedicated member of St. Louis’ legal community. Most notably, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Washington University School of Law for more than 20 years. He also supports the community through pro bono efforts, including handling trademark matters for the St. Louis Zoo and providing counsel to an arts group at a local prison that frequently needs help with licensing agreements to perform copyrighted works.

In addition to his career as an IP attorney, Wheelock is also a former Chair of the Development Board of St. Patrick Center, which helped support people in the community who were experiencing or at risk for homelessness.

See the full list of St. Louisans to Know in the April issue of St. Louis Small Business Monthly. 

About Harness IP
Harness IP is celebrating more than 100 years as an intellectual property law firm. Founded in 1921, the firm currently holds a No. 2 ranking from IAM Media for providing counsel to 44 companies with the largest portfolios of issued U.S. patents. The firm also ranks No. 6 for filing the most patent applications on behalf of those companies. Harness IP’s attorneys and IP professionals focus exclusively on patents, trademarks, global IP management, litigation, and other IP rights. The firm has offices in Metropolitan Dallas, Detroit, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. Visit www.harnessip.com for more information.