Seed IP partner William O. Ferron, Jr. will serve as a faculty member at the upcoming 5th Annual Patent Law Institute, taking place in San Francisco, CA, on March 21-22, 2011. The Patent Law Institute is an instructional program targeted to and designed for patent practitioners and is presented annually by the Practising Law Institute (PLI). Patent prosecutors, patent litigators, and transactional lawyers from around the world can attend either in person or via live webcast. The two-day course consists of six plenary sessions and six breakout sessions in three tracks:  Litigation, Prosecution, and Strategic & Transactional.

Mr. Ferron is a senior partner within Seed IP’s Mechanical Engineering & Trademark Group. He also specializes in IP counseling and litigation matters. During the San Francisco program, Mr. Ferron will be co-conducting a session with Mr. Marc C. Levy, entitled “Strategic Use of Design Patents,” which will cover recent cases enhancing the effectiveness of design patents as well as the best practices for application drafting of design patents.

Full and complete details about PLI’s 5th Annual Patent Law Institute program can be found in the PDF below.

On July 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Sun Pharmaceutical Indus. Ltd. v. Eli Lilly Co., 611 F.3d 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2010), issued an important ruling on double patenting. The double patenting doctrine precludes an applicant from obtaining more than one valid patent for either the same invention (“statutory double patenting”) or for an obvious variation of the invention (“obviousness-type double patenting”). The purpose of both types of double patenting is to prevent an unjust patent-term extension resulting from a later patent. While acknowledging the general rule that the specification of an earlier patent is not available to show double patenting against a later patent, the court nevertheless held that the entire specification of an earlier patent must be examined to construe claims in the earlier patent during double-patenting analysis. On Nov. 1, the court declined to rehear this case by a 5-4 majority. 625 F.3d 719 (Fed. Cir. 2010).

Seed IP’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Group proudly welcomes new associates David C. Conlee and William J. Pigott.

David specializes in foreign and domestic patent prosecution as well as infringement and invalidity studies. He received a B.S. in Physics (with an emphasis in Nanotechnology) and a minor in Mathematics from Brigham Young University in 2005. David also received an M.E. in Electrical Engineering (with an emphasis in Integrated Circuit Design and Fabrication) from the University of Utah in 2007. He was awarded his J.D. from the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University in 2010. David’s experience includes designing and fabricating digital and analog integrated circuits and MEMS devices at the University of Utah. He has also performed research in the fabrication and applications of carbon nanotubes. Prior to becoming an attorney, David worked for a number of years as a summer associate and patent agent at Seed IP, where he gained experience in drafting patent applications and prosecuting Office Actions.

Will specializes in electronic patent matters. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University in 2002. He is a J.D. candidate (Class of 2010) at the University Washington School of Law. Prior to joining Seed IP, Will’s professional experience included working as a CMOS Image Sensor Product Engineer at Micron Technologies in Boise, ID. His experience includes new silicon verification, optimization of production tests, and resolving customer application issues. Will also served for two years as a Submarine Systems Test Engineer at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA, where he was responsible for verifying the completion of system dependant repairs as well as testing system components prior to restoring system functionality. Prior to this, he worked as an electrical engineer at SPAWAR Systems Center in San Diego, CA, where he performed research on underwater acoustic signal responses and atmospheric effects on GPS signals. Prior to becoming an attorney, Will worked as a summer associate and patent agent at Seed IP, where he gained experience in drafting patent applications and prosecuting Office Actions.

David and Will are admitted to the Washington State Bar and registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They are members of the Washington State Patent Law Association.

See profile for David Conlee
See profile for William Pigott

U.S. News & World Report® and Best Lawyers® recently jointly announced the 2010 Best Law Firms® rankings, marking the inaugural publication of this highly-anticipated annual analysis. Seed IP Law Group PLLC ranks in Tier 1 for the Seattle-area for Intellectual Property Law, Biotechnology Law, and Information Technology Law, as well as in several top tiers nationally. The rankings, including 30,322 rankings of 8,782 law firms in 81 practice areas. These inaugural rankings are presented in tiers both nationally and by metropolitan area or by state, providing a comprehensive view of the U.S. legal profession that is unprecedented both in the range of firms represented and in the range of qualitative and quantitative data used to develop the rankings. Achieving a high ranking is a special distinction that signals a unique combination of excellence and breadth of expertise.

The mission of Best Law Firms from the start has been to help guide referring lawyers and clients – from the country’s largest companies needing corporate legal advice to individuals who need a high level of legal work because of the particularly difficult legal issues presented, or for legal issues of a particular magnitude.

“U.S. News has more than two decades of experience in providing the public with the most accurate and in-depth rankings of a wide range of institutions,” says Tim Smart, Executive Editor of U.S. News & World Report. “This experience, coupled with our growing reputation as a leading career information resource, makes these law firm rankings a logical next step.”

“U.S. News is the world’s leading publisher of institutional rankings based on both objective data and peer evaluations,” says Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers. “We are combining this expertise with Best Lawyers’ experience of providing rankings of individual lawyers based on peer reviews for almost three decades. By combining hard data with peer reviews, and client assessments, we believe that we are providing users with the most thorough, accurate, and helpful rankings of law firms ever developed.”

Every major client and leading lawyer were asked to rate the law firms they consider best in their practice area. In the end, 9,514 clients – including every Fortune 100 company and 587 of the Fortune 1000 companies – provided 194,370 firm practice-area evaluations; 6,190 clients provided 11,181 comments about law firm practice areas and individual lawyers; and 8,842 lawyers provided 594,012 firm practice-area evaluations.

These reputational survey responses were combined with more than 3.1 million evaluations of individual lawyers in these firms in the most recent Best Lawyers survey of leading lawyers.  Hard numbers were also used to develop the practice area rankings — data about numbers of lawyers and their previous experience, numbers of clients within different billing ranges, numbers of transactions and litigation matters at different dollar levels; pro-bono commitment, diversity, and other objective data.

About the U.S. News Media Group
The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform digital publisher of news and analysis, which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money & Business, Education, and Public Service/Opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group’s signature franchises include its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its “America’s Best” series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, health plans, and more.

About Best Lawyers
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. For over a quarter century, the company has helped lawyers and clients find legal counsel in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. The 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America includes 41,385 lawyers covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia and is based on more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. At www.BestLawyers.com, Best Lawyers also publishes peer-reviewed listings of lawyers in most of the world’s major legal markets. Best Lawyers lists are excerpted in a wide range of general interest, business and legal publications worldwide, reaching an audience of more than 17 million readers.

Seed IP’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Group proudly welcomes David C. Conlee and William J. Pigott as patent agents.

David specializes in foreign and domestic patent prosecution as well as infringement and invalidity studies. He received a B.S. in Physics (with an emphasis in Nanotechnology) and a minor in Mathematics from Brigham Young University in 2005. David also received an M.E. in Electrical Engineering (with an emphasis in Integrated Circuit Design and Fabrication) from the University of Utah in 2007. He was awarded his J.D. from the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University in 2010. David’s experience includes designing and fabricating digital and analog integrated circuits and MEMS devices at the University of Utah. He has also performed research in the fabrication and applications of carbon nanotubes.

Will specializes in electronic patent matters. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University in 2002. He is a J.D. candidate (Class of 2010) at the University Washington School of Law. Prior to joining Seed IP, Will’s professional experience included working as a CMOS Image Sensor Product Engineer at Micron Technologies in Boise, ID. His experience includes new silicon verification, optimization of production tests, and resolving customer application issues. Will also served for two years as a Submarine Systems Test Engineer at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA, where he was responsible for verifying the completion of system dependant repairs as well as testing system components prior to restoring system functionality. Prior to this, he worked as an electrical engineer at SPAWAR Systems Center in San Diego, CA, where he performed research on underwater acoustic signal responses and atmospheric effects on GPS signals. Before becoming a patent agent, Will worked as a Summer Associate at Seed IP, where he gained experience in drafting patent applications and prosecuting Office Actions.

David and Will are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and are members of the Washington State Patent Law Association. They both recently took the Washington State Bar Exam in their journey towards becoming licensed patent attorneys.

Seed IP Law Group PLLC was recently awarded with the “Washington’s Best Workplaces 2010” accolade and plaque from the Puget Sound Business Journal at a recognition ceremony that took place at Safeco Field on August 12. For the third consecutive year, Puget Sound Business Journal has named Seed IP Law Group PLLC as one of “Washington’s Best Workplaces.” Initially launched in 2007, the “Washington’s Best Workplaces” program was created by the Puget Sound Business Journal in order to identify and recognize the best practices in the hiring and retention of great people. After an extensive and rigorous process, involving more than 300 nominated companies and the surveying of thousands of nominee-company employees across the state, workplaces in five different categories have been identified as “Washington’s Best”, based on their various employee benefit offerings, leadership culture, and work/life balance philosophies. Representing the Puget Sound area and beyond, the finalists (20 small companies, 20 medium-sized companies, 20 large companies, 10 extra large companies, and 10 nonprofits) best exemplify Puget Sound Business Journal’s important role in drawing attention to innovations and excellence in the management of our region’s primary and best resource: its people.

Seed Intellectual Property Law Group PLLC is pleased to announce that nine of its attorneys, Frank Abramonte, David V. Carlson, William T. Christiansen II, William O. Ferron, Jr., Karl R. Hermanns, Lorraine Linford, Stephen J. Rosenman, Jeffrey M. Sakoi, and Richard G. Sharkey are to be listed in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Mr. Abramonte and Mr. Carlson are partners within Seed IP’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Group; Mr. Ferron, Jr., Ms. Linford, and Mr. Sakoi are partners within Seed IP’s Mechanical Engineering & Trademark Group; Dr. Christiansen II, Mr. Hermanns, Dr. Rosenman, and Dr. Sharkey are partners within Seed IP’s Biotechnology, Chemistry & Pharmaceuticals Group.

First published in 1983, Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey. The upcoming 17th edition of Best Lawyers contains results based on a national survey involving more than 3.1 miilion detailed evaluations of lawyers and their legal abilities by other lawyers in the same and related specialties. Because of the rigorous and transparent methodology used by Best Lawyers, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.” Steven Naifeh, Managing Editor of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe - as we have believed for 28 years - that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of recognition in the legal profession.” For the past three decades, Best Lawyers has come to be regarded - by both the legal profession and the public - as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.

The Center for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP) Summer Institute offers in-depth legal education and training for U.S. and international intellectual property lawyers, patent agents, post-graduate scientists and engineers, and law students. Held annually on the campus of the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, CASRIP is a two-week intensive program that teaches the fundamentals of patent prosecution, patent litigation, and technology licensing and management, from a comparative law perspective. During the CASRIP Summer Institute, a special two-day program called the High Technology Protection Summit also takes place, attracting experts from around the world who discuss cutting-edge legal issues in intellectual property law and innovation. Seed IP attorneys Karl R. Hermanns, David V. Carlson, Stephen J. Rosenman, Shoko I. Leek, and Nathan E. Durrance took part as lecturers and panelists during the 2010 CASRIP Summer Institute. Also participating was Sean M. O’Connor, Professor and Director of LTA (Law, Technology and Arts) at the University of Washington School of Law. Professor O’Connor is Of Counsel to Seed IP. A cocktail reception for all 2010 CASRIP Summer Institute and High Technology Protection Summit participants was held on the evening of July 23 at the Seed IP Law Group office.

For the third consecutive year, Puget Sound Business Journal  has named Seed IP Law Group PLLC as one of “Washington’s Best Workplaces.” Initially launched in 2007, the “Washington’s Best Workplaces” program was created by the Puget Sound Business Journal  in order to identify and recognize the best practices in the hiring and retention of great people. After an extensive and rigorous process, involving more than 300 nominated companies and the surveying of thousands of nominee-company employees across the state, workplaces in five different categories have been identified as “Washington’s Best”, based on their various employee benefit offerings, leadership culture, and work/life balance philosophies. Representing the Puget Sound area and beyond, the finalists (20 small companies, 20 medium-sized companies, 20 large companies, 10 extra large companies, and 10 nonprofits) best exemplify Puget Sound Business Journal’s important role in drawing attention to innovations and excellence in the management of our region’s primary and best resource: its people.

Seed IP partners Dr. William T. Christiansen II, Kevin S. Costanza, William O. Ferron, Jr., Karl R. Hermanns, and Dr. Richard G. Sharkey were recently selected as Super Lawyers for year 2010 on the annual Super Lawyers list, as published by Thomson Reuters. Since 1991, Super Lawyers has provided a yearly listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Super Lawyers is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines across the country. Each specializing in intellectual property law, our selected attorneys are all multiple-year Super Lawyers honorees. Dr. Christiansen, Mr. Hermanns, and Dr. Sharkey are attorneys within Seed IP’s Biotechnology & Chemistry Group; Mr. Costanza and Mr. Ferron are attorneys within Seed IP’s Mechanical Engineering & Trademark Group. We proudly congratulate each of them on being selected as Super Lawyers for 2010!