Richard Wells

Practice Areas

Richard V. Wells is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Intellectual Property Practice Group. Mr. Wells has over 20 years of experience practicing intellectual property law with a focus in the patent area, including due diligence, prosecution, counseling and litigation. Prior to rejoining the Firm, Mr. Wells served as intellectual property counsel for WesternGeco, a subsidiary of Schlumberger, in Oslo, Norway. In that role, Mr. Wells managed a global patent portfolio of several hundred patents and routinely advised on competitive decision making with an intellectual property angle.

Mr. Wells has extensive patent litigation experience, both in asserting and defending against patent infringement claims, in federal district court and before the International Trade Commission. He also routinely appears before the Patent Trials and Appeals Board to assert or defend against inter partes review of patents. Mr. Wells' practice is also focused on patent due diligence, prosecution and counseling matters, particularly in the medical device, oilfield, heavy industry and software areas. In that regard, Mr. Wells regularly handles patent due diligence and valuation assessments of potential acquisition targets and investment opportunities. He further provides clearance evaluations on new products entering markets worldwide, including preparation of patent-related opinions. He also has vast experience handling the drafting and negotiation of technology related agreements, including joint development and licensing agreements.

Professional Memberships

Federal Circuit Bar Association - Member

State Bar of Texas - Member

United States Patent and Trademark Office - Member

Publications

Co-author, "Shift In China's Trade Secret Law Levels The Playing Field," Law 360, 15 July 2022

Author, "Avoiding the Pitfalls in Inter Partes Review in the United States," GRUR Int at 818, September 2015

Author, "Software Patents in the EU: A US Practitioner’s Perspective," e-commerce law & policy, vol. 6, issue 10, October 2004

Expert in these Jurisdictions

USA

Languages Spoken

English

Education