With years of experience as a software engineer and then as an intellectual property lawyer, Dennis helps clients win competitive advantages with trademark and patent protections. Among his notable successes have been trademarking a unique color shade and the shape of an unusal mechancial device, and pursuing a patent for an entirely abstract business method process.
Dennis has extensive experience in drafting and prosecuting patents in electrical, software, and mechanical areas, covering a broad range of technologies, including:
- Business methods
- Electronic and internet commerce methods
- High speed communications
- Cellular telephones
- GPS systems
- Automation and robotics
- Magnetics
- Optics
- Hydraulics
- Power electronics
- MEMS
- Material sciences
Dennis has significant trademark experience and is also experienced in drafting and negotiating software licenses, software development contracts and confidentiality agreements. Dennis is a Registered Patent Attorney and is a member of the firm's Corporate Department and its Intellectual Property Group.
Prior to entering the law field, Dennis served as a director of application development and manager of a team of engineers that built and maintained a suite of PC-based applications for anesthesiologists. For over eight years, Dennis was a Software Engineer with Digital Equipment Corporation, and directed a research program at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
IP Legal Watch Blog
Dennis shares his knowledge of recent developments in patent law, such as the new Patent Reform Act of 2009, as well as noteworthy cases, such as Bilski, which deals with the granting of controversial business patents, on the firm's IP Legal Watch blog.
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Recipient of the American Intellectual Property Law Association's Robert C. Watson Award for the best article regarding the protection of Intellectual Property, 1996