Bob has been responsible for the management and development of patent matters for a wide range of clients in areas including hyper-dimensional computing for machine learning, RF semiconductor, power electronics, semiconductor fabrication, semiconductor memory, computer systems architecture, audio technologies, biomedical devices, and related software. He has helped numerous clients develop robust patent portfolios, and a number of the patents Bob has drafted and prosecuted have been successfully litigated or licensed to large multinational corporations.

Bob also has significant experience drafting invalidity and non-infringement opinions as a defense to willfulness, representing clients during due diligence, counseling clients in the acquisition of technology, negotiating patent license agreements, and conducting strategic prosecution as part of a licensing strategy.

Prior to his legal career, Bob worked for 12 years as a senior design engineer, developing products in the areas of solid-state memory, error detection/correction, image compression/decompression, and medical imaging for Digital Equipment Corp. and Polaroid Medical Imaging Systems.

Non-Prosecution-Related Experience

• Served as IP opinion counsel to an RF device manufacturer in support of a public stock offering.
• Represented a client in the due diligence investigation of the client’s patent portfolio in support of a $70M investment made by a European holding company.
• Represented a client in a due diligence investigation regarding a $10M acquisition of a patent portfolio including 1,900 patents related to audio, wearable, and medical technologies.
• Represented a client in the out-licensing of intellectual property related to video and wearable technology for real-time video systems.
• Represented a client in a due diligence investigation for the acquisition of a patent portfolio related to social media systems.
• Advised a client as opinion counsel on issues related to invalidity and non-infringement in defense of an assertion of willful patent infringement of a group of seven patents related to semiconductor wafer processing for use in mobile communications products.

Honors and Awards

• Chambers USA: Recognized in Intellectual Property, 2014-2023 editions
• Best Lawyers in America, 2018-2023
• IP Stars Patent Star, 2023

Education

• Wake Forest School of Law, Juris Doctor
• Northeastern University, B.S., Electrical Engineering

Service & Recognition

• Past Chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the North Carolina Bar Association
• Recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association Intellectual Property Section’s 2010 Pro Bono Award for handling appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Bar Admissions

• North Carolina
• United States Patent and Trademark Office
• United States Supreme Court