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2010-present: Patent Attorney (half-time)
San Clemente, California
Solo patent practitioner
Technologies: physics, optics, electronics, material science
2007-present: General Counsel (half-time effective 2010)
Target Technology Company, LLC
Irvine, California
Keep the company in compliance with the law
Supervise outside litigation counsel
Protect the company's IP
Technologies: Optical storage media (think: DVD), and sputtering targets used in their manufacture
2002-2007: Retired
San Diego, California
2001-2002: Patent Attorney
San Diego, California
Solo patent practitioner.
1998-2001: Patent Counsel
San Diego, California
Prepared and prosecuted patent applications in USPTO and PCT
Supervised foreign patent counsel in the national phase in JPO, EPO, EPO member nations, and dozens of other national patent offices
Technology: digital wireless communication networks
1988-1998: Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
The Boeing Company (formerly Rockwell International)
Anaheim and Seal Beach, California
Prepared and prosecuted, to issuance, applications for over a hundred inventions in the USPTO
Prepared and prosecuted, to issuance, foreign patent applications for dozens of inventions, including:
preparation and international-stage-prosecution of PCT applications
supervision of foreign patent counsel in PCT national-stage applications in JPO, EPO, and EPO members
supervision of foreign patent counsel in direct-file national applications in JPO, EPO, and EPO members
Negotiated IP aspects of hundreds of NDAs, purchase/sales contracts, and licenses
Technologies included: digital signal processing, lasers, radar, infrared detectors, inertial guidance, telecommunications, superconductivity, and electronic packaging
1986-88: Patent Lawyer
Law Office of Allan R. Fowler (now deceased)
Irvine, California
Associate of solo patent practitioner
1979-85: Assistant Criminal District Attorney
Dallas, Texas
Board Certified, Criminal Law
Worked for Henry Wade, of Roe vs. Wade fame (US Supreme Court, 1973, well before I started)
Appeals ("No, Your Honor. He needs to do the 99 years in prison that the jury assessed him in the trial court. Here is why.")
Mr. Miscellaneous:
DA's representative to the Dallas County Bail Bond Board
Interstate Extradition of Fugitive Criminals (both incoming and outgoing; both trial and appeal)
Expunction of Criminal Records, both trial and appeal ("OK, Sheriff, I'll let him out of jail, and I'll give him an apology. But what do I do with the mug shot and the fingerprint card? And how do I get the mug shot and the print card back from the Texas Department of Public Safety, and from the FBI?")
Civil Forfeiture Appeals ("We cleaned out all of the inventory of Harry's Hemp Paraphernalia Store, and the trial judge backed us up, but now Harry is appealing.")
1977-79: Attorney at Law
Sherman, Texas (pop. 31,000)
Criminal Defense
Divorce/Child-Custody/Support
1975-77: Assistant County Attorney
Sherman, Texas (pop. 31,000)
Misdemeanor Prosecution
Juvenile-Delinquent Prosecution
Collection of out-of-state
child support
United States Army (Patch on my shoulder!)
Company Armorer (1971)
Co C, 2nd Bn, 11th Inf, 4th Infantry Division
Ft. Carson, Colorado
secured and maintained pistols, automatic rifles, grenade launchers, machine guns (both hand-carried and vehicle-mounted), and recoilless rifles (and even a few bazookas!) for a full-strength mechanized infantry company (close to 200 men)
had about $110,000 (that's a hundred-and-ten-thousand 1971 dollars) of weapons under my lock and key, which the Company Commander deemed more secure in my hands than in the hands of any other man under his command. He accordingly:
made me his guidon bearer; and
wrote a nice letter which got me into law school.
Assistant Machine Gunner; Grenadier (1970)
3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Co C, 1st Bn, 501st Inf (Geronimo!)
101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles!)
Thua Thien Province, Vietnam
Trainee (1969)
Ft. Polk, Louisiana
(D-4-2! Better than the best, Drill Sergeant!)
2002-2007: San Diego Community College
San Diego, California
Lifelong Learning
1985-86: The University of Texas at Dallas
Dallas, Texas
BS (Physics) summa cum laude
1972-75: The University of Texas, School of Law
Austin, Texas
JD (Yes, I got in two years after Dubya was rejected.)
1971-72: The University of Houston
Houston, Texas
BS (Political Science)
1966-69: Rice University
Houston, Texas
Math/Physics major
1961-66: St. Paul's School
Concord, New Hampshire
Diploma cum laude
State Bar of California (1987)
US Patent and Trademark Office (1985)
My name appears as attorney of record on more than 150 issued US patents. On some of them, I did little more than ensure that the proper issuance formalities were observed; the real work had been done by some other patent attorney (who had since been assigned to "more pressing duties"). On the other hand, there are some issued patents out there where my name nowhere appears, since I was the patent attorney who had since been assigned to "more pressing duties". It all evens out.
Here are three US patents which I took from disclosure through issuance, thereby avoiding the complication of "more pressing duties" in both forms: