Nathan Kelley

Practice Areas

Intellectual Property Law

Patent Litigation

Appeals, Issues & Strategy

Patent Appeals

Career

Nathan Kelley is one of the country’s leading intellectual property lawyers, having served for more than a decade at the top levels of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, most recently as Solicitor and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law. In that capacity, Nate managed all IP litigation for the USPTO and participated in many of the most significant patent and trademark cases in recent years, including Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC; Matal v. Tam; Aqua Products, Inc. v. Matal; In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC; Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple, Inc.; Life Techs. Corp. v. Promega Corp.; Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l; Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc.; Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc.; and B&B Hardware v. Hargis Indus., Inc.

At the USPTO, Nate also acted as the USPTO’s Chief Administrative Patent Judge, leading the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) during a critical period as it was coming up to speed with its jurisdiction over inter partes reviews under the America Invents Act (AIA). Before his time in the Solicitor’s Office and PTAB, Nate worked for six years at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, first as a member of its permanent legal staff and then as a law clerk for Circuit Judge Randall Rader. His career in intellectual property law began over 25 years ago as a patent examiner in the semiconductor field.