Robert Katz

Rob has benefited firm clients in the areas of utility patents and industrial designs. He has drafted and prosecuted to issuance numerous and significant utility patents in the U.S. and in foreign countries. These clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as many individual inventors and small companies who rely on strong patent protection in their marketplaces. The patents have been directed primarily to mechanical and electromechanical devices, and to software and computer-related inventions. Many patents drafted and prosecuted by Rob have been successfully enforced with some having served as the cornerstone for the successful sale of companies.

Both nationally and internationally, Rob is considered one of the premier practitioners in the field of industrial designs, leading the way in the procurement and enforcement of design patents. On behalf of the firm’s clients, he has helped procure more than 10,000 design patents in the U.S. and more than 30,000 design patents/registrations outside the U.S., and has helped to successfully enforce over 100 design patents. Leaders from foreign design patent offices have consulted with him regarding industrial design policies, and he has served as an expert in design patent litigations. He also prepared and filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of IDSA (Industrial
Designers Society of America).

Rob holds leadership positions in several professional organizations, including ABA, AIPLA, FICPI and INTA. He is the past Chair of INTA’s Designs Committee and Vice President of FICPI’s U.S. Section. For the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, he currently serves as Liaison to FICPI. He also serves as a member of the Industrial Designs working group of the AIPLA Special Committee on Legislation. He is a former Chair of the Industrial Design Section for both FICPI and AIPLA, and also a member of IDSA and IPO.

Rob earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and his Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from George Washington University. He is admitted to practice before many courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He is a member of the bar in Virginia and the District of Columbia, and is registered to practice before the USPTO.