Stephen Sullivan

Industry Group Leader

Industry focus

How I represent clients at Schwabe

I bring extensive intellectual property law ‎experience and deep technical knowledge to aid ‎my clients in building patent portfolios that support ‎their overall business goals. I represent clients with ‎diverse technologies, including semiconductor devices ‎and processing, software anti-piracy, communication, ‎speech and handwriting recognition, image and video ‎processing, and bioinformatics, among others. With ‎a wide variety of intellectual property experience, I ‎offer services for opinion letters, patent licenses, and ‎strategic patent counseling.‎

Experience

  • Created global IP strategy in alignment with a start-up’s business goals, resulting in a patent portfolio that generated millions of dollars in licensing revenue and withstood repeated invalidity challenges.
  • Developed a patent portfolio for a start-up related to a wearable device that Google purchased, and another portfolio that Samsung licensed.
  • Advised business executives and the boards of various clients and determined strategic areas for patenting as well as identified patentable subject matter.
  • Prepared a large e-commerce client for potential litigation by generating a portfolio of non-infringement opinions.
  • A named inventor on:
    • Hybrid Artificial Intelligence System For Semi-Automatic Patent Infringement, US US20210056261A1, published February 25, 2021.
    • Multipurpose Navigation Keys for an Electronic Imaging Device, US 7,222,307, issued May 22, 2007.
    • Method and System for Automatically Configuring a Hand-Held Camera Using Wireless Communication to Improve Image Quality, US 6,970,189, issued November 29, 2005.
    • Method and System for Hosting an Internet Web Site on a Digital Camera, US 6,567,122, issued May 20, 2003.

Education

  • Santa Clara University School of Law, Juris Doctor degree (1992)‎
  • Ohio State University, Bachelor of Science degree, Computer Information Science‎ (1986)

Admissions

  • California State Courts
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Memberships

  • Patent Bar, Member
  • California State Bar Association, Member
  • Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA), President (2003-2004)
  • SVIPLA, Officer and Board Member (1999-2005)

Additional Publications

“A Proposal for Classifying Claims for Software Programs as a Statutory Machine or Manufacture,” New Matter, Intellectual Property Section, State Bar of California (1995).

Community Activities

  • Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos, Board Member (2015-2021)

Outside Interests

Sports: skiing, tennis, mountain biking. Video games. Chess.

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