Bio

Tom Ferrill counsels companies in all areas of Intellectual Property including Patents, Trade Secrets, Copyrights and Trade Marks. Tom’s practice includes drafting patent applications to protect a company’s technology, including how to properly draft a patent for a startup company. He counsels clients in mining and identifying important patentable inventions. Some examples of Tom’s previous startup clients include Autonomy Corp., which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co. for almost $11 billion, and Pure Digital Technologies, which was acquired by Cisco for $590 million, according to CNET. He is a registered patent attorney who has been drafting software, mechanical, and chemical patents since 1997. Tom graduated in the top of his class with honors from one of the nation’s top Intellectual Property law schools. He served as an external law clerk for federal district court judge. He has experience as both an IP litigator as well as an IP business attorney and has over ten years of experience working as an Electrical Engineer and Nuclear Reactor Operator prior to becoming a patent attorney. Tom worked as an electrical engineer for companies such as the pharmaceutical company – Abbott Laboratories, the electrical power generation company – Illinois Power, the U.S. Navy onboard a nuclear-powered submarine, and a small startup Printed-Circuit-Board manufacturing company. His experience combines a vast knowledge of technical expertise, industry experience, and in-depth knowledge of Intellectual Property law. He is an expert in counseling clients on how to strategically develop a patent portfolio and where to file around the world, patent prosecution (in the U.S. as well as directing foreign prosecution in countries outside the US). He has vast experience in analyzing patents for validity and products for non-infringement, providing strategic counseling and support during litigation, drafting licenses for patents, product license agreements, NDA’s, supply agreements, joint development agreements, and any other kind of agreement involving intellectual property. Tom has developed a series of checklists for performing due diligence on Intellectual Property assets of a company for acquisitions and investments in a thorough and efficient manner. He has experience in performing post patent grant review procedures including Reexamination proceedings and Inter Partes Review (IPRs). Tom enjoys partnering with a client to manage the various range of Intellectual Property issues that occur at a start-up company or mid-sized company. He has drafted patents in the areas of networking (including Internet applications), software, broadband and wireless communications, computer hardware, most mechanical inventions, search engines, medical devices, Bio-Tech, Clean Tech, Optics, integrated circuits, energy systems, and on most variants of electrical/electronic technologies just to name a few.