Professional Experience
Anthony M. Zupcic, a partner in the firm since 1980, is Chair of the firm's Patent Prosecution Practice Group.
Over the past 35 years, Mr. Zupcic has been involved in all aspects of intellectual property law, with particular emphasis on interference practice, patent prosecution and client counseling. Some of the technologies he has worked in include medical devices, computer hardware, flat panel displays, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing, electrophotography, autofocus, optical waveguides, lasers, ink jet and other types of printers, facsimile machines and jet engines. Since the 1984 interference rules, Mr. Zupcic has been lead attorney in well over fifty interferences for such clients as Canon Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, IBM, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Loctite, and Microm International. While most of these cases have been in the electrical and mechanical arts, several of the more recent cases have involved biotechnology. He has also been counsel in interferences on behalf of Hewlett-Packard Company, Medtronics, INA-Schaeffler KG, Neuronz, Ltd., Warner Lambert and United Technologies.
While in law school, Mr. Zupcic worked as an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examining patent applications in the area of hydraulic fluid systems.
Awards and Recognition
Listed in Legal 500 2007 in IP-Non-Contentious/Transactional - patent prosecution: "beginning his career as a USPTO patent examiner stands him in good stead when it comes to preparing and prosecuting applications." He was also listed in Legal 500 2008 for Patent litigation: full coverage and Patent prosecution: utility and design and he was listed in 2009 and 2010 patent prosecution: utility and design patents. Mr. Zupcic was selected by Patent Buddy as one of the Top Patent Prosecutors nationally in the Computer, Electrical, Software and Business Methods areas for 2011.
Professional Activities
Fellow of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); Vice-Chairman of the IP Law Association's Committee of the AIPLA; Member of the AIPLA Special Task Force on Rulemaking under the America Invents Act; Member of the 2011 AIPLA Committee on Nominations; Past Member of the Board of Directors of the AIPLA, Member and Past Chairman of the Professional Programs Committee, the Patent-Relations with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Committee and Interference Committee (now the USPTO Inter Partes Patent Proceeds Committee) of the AIPLA; Past Chairman of the Committee on Harmonization of Patent Laws of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association; Federal Circuit Bar Association; American Bar Association and Member of IPL Section Committees 101 (Patent Legislation), 103 (PTO Affairs), and 104 (Interferences).
Representative Matters
· Amgen against Human Genome Sciences in Interference No. 105,613 involving a key receptor in the immune system.
· INA against Delphi in Interference No. 105,468 involving automobile valve lifters.
· Medtronic Navigation, Inc. against GE Medical Systems Global Technology in Interference No. 105,415 involving surgical navigation technology.
· Helmholtz-Zentrum Fur Infektionsforschung Gmb, exclusive licensor to Bristol-Myers Squibb, against Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in Interference No. 105,298 involving epothilone C and epothilone D.
· Bristol-Myers Squibb against Tolerance Therapeutics, LLC in Interference Nos. 105,105; 105,106; and 105,107 involving fusion proteins.
· Matsushita v. Sakaguchi in Interference No. 105,263 relating to semiconductors.
· Stiller v. Heid in Interference No. 105,044 involving a specimen transport mechanism.
· West v. Van Damme in Interference No. 105,031 involving photosensitive printing plates.
· Shinomiya v. Hanya in Interference No. 104,097 involving liquid crystal displays.
· Riseman v. Kobayashi in Interference No. 103,780 relating to laser beam printer technology.
· Kaneko v. Sakaegi in Interference No. 103,000 involving camera white balance.
· Hoshino v. Tanaka in Interference No. 103,208 relating to autofocus.
· Katayama v. Levien in Interference No. 103,587 involving halftone imaging.
· Canon Inc. against various parties in Interference Nos. 102,090; 102,091, 102,092; 102,323; 103,212; 103,187; and 103,213, all relating to liquid crystal display technology.
· Shibuzaki v. Furuichi in Interference No. 101,822 relating to copy magnification in an electrophotographic copying machine.
· Lawrence v. Suzuki in Interference No. 101,692 relating to sheet sorters.
· Ito v. Masuda in Interference No. 101,278 relating to a scanning mechanism in an electrophotographic copying machine.
Representative Cases
Perego v. Drehmel
Patent Interference No. 105,467
Amgen Inc. v. Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and Schering Corp.
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Spath v. Geyer
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 2008
Hunter v. Ferre
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 2007
Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research v. Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Infektionsforschung Gmbh
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 2006
Levien v. Levien v. Katayama et al.
Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 2000
Events
Motions Practice During an Interference
IPO Patent Interferences Rules & Practice Conference
December 2006
Interference Practice Update
Twenty-First Annual Joint Patent Practice Seminar
April 21, 2005