Stephen W. Palan

Stephen W. Palan joined Patent Portfolio Builders, PLLC as a Partner so he could provide more personalized service, more reasonable billing rates, and in turn more value to his clients. 

 

His practice focuses on intellectual property counseling and portfolio management, including worldwide strategic patent procurement and licensing, as well as trade secret protection. 

 

Stephen’s work in the patent field over the past twenty years has spanned all aspects of patent procurement and enforcement. During engineering and law school he performed patentability, validity, and clearance searches. Stephen worked as an assistant Examiner at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office while completing his final two years of law school.  He then spent six years as an Associate in one of the largest Intellectual Property boutique law firms in the United States where he concentrated on patent application drafting and prosecution. 

 

Most recently Stephen was a Partner in an international, America Lawyer 100 law firm, where he acquired a broad range of experience, including managing the technical aspects of patent infringement litigations and patent interference proceedings, working on trade secret investigations, evaluating intellectual property in connection with corporate mergers and acquisitions, and developing an Intellectual Property protection and patent procurement program for a Fortune 500 company. 

 

Stephen’s practice covers a variety of electrical and mechanical technologies and he has extensive experience in automotive, communication, control system, satellite, water treatment, and semiconductor design and manufacturing technologies. He is experienced in all aspects of U.S. patent practice, including infringement litigation and patent procurement. His counseling work involves infringement, validity, and right-to-use counseling and opinions. 

 

Stephen is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland, and also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Stephen served on the Board of Governors of the Virginia State Bar Intellectual Property Section between 2006 and 2012 and is a past chair of the Board.