Mr. Higgins is a partner and member of Blank Rome's Intellectual Property Litigation practice group. He represents the interests of clients before federal district and appellate courts involving complex patent litigation matters, including matters involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, telecommunications, and electronics. He provides strategic patent procurement, copyright, trademark, and trade secret counseling to clients in numerous industries, including the life sciences, financial, telecommunications, automotive, e-commerce, environmental protection, and consumer electronics industries, to name a few. Mr. Higgins also counsels clients in complex licensing arrangements with third parties, and represents clients in contract negotiations. Mr. Higgins has represented book authors, artists, songwriters, educators, engineers, surgeons, scientists, as well as small nonprofit companies and multi-billion dollar international corporations. He is a registered patent attorney and a licensed professional engineer. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Higgins worked as an engineer and consultant for the U.S. Army and two government contractors.
Mr. Higgins received his law degree (J.D.) from the University of Maryland School of Law, his Master of Science (M.S.) in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Engineering from Arizona State University.
Mr. Higgins is the publisher and editor of the successful Maryland Intellectual Property Law blog, where he publishes timely information about intellectual property issues, jobs, and events of interest to the public. He provides pro bono legal services to the Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, and is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Environmental Health, a National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) publication.
Representative Matters
· Represented a patent owner before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a patent lawsuit involving mobile data collection devices.
· Assisted generic drug manufacturers to obtain patents and defend against patent and trademark infringement allegations brought by competitors.
· Defended three Taiwan mobile telecommunications carriers in a patent suit before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
· Assisted a national weather content service provider to develop an extensive patent portfolio in the mobile telecommunications location-based services (LBS) market.
· Helped a book author identify and clear copyright obstacles involving publication of photos of famous individuals in author's memoir.
· Counseled Internet e-commerce and content/service providers, helped protect their online businesses with patents and other forms of intellectual property.
· Provided strategic patent, copyright, licensing, and government contract advise to a major university technology office regarding university's event detection system.
· Prepared patent applications for inventions involving emergency information reporting over public-switched and wireless telephony networks.
· Helped individual inventor build new business from ground up, including procuring patent protection for novel pacing system, incorporating business structure, negotiating employment agreement terms, and developing strategies for enforcing patent rights against competitors.
Memberships
American Bar Association
Federal Circuit Bar Association
Maryland Bar Association
Events
SUCCESSFULLY LITIGATING METHOD OF USE PATENTS
[Event]
Generics, Supergenerics & Patent Strategies Conference, London, England
May 16, 2007
Charles R. Wolfe, Jr. and Brian Wm. Higgins
Publications
GENERIC PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CAN COUNTERCLAIM TO CORRECT USE CODES IN FDA ORANGE BOOK
[Article]
iPFrontline
April 26, 2012
Brian Wm. Higgins and Jay P. Lessler
U.S. SUPREME COURT HOLDS THAT NEW EVIDENCE MAY BE INTRODUCED IN DISTRICT COURT SUITS BROUGHT AGAINST THE PATENT OFFICE FOR REJECTING A PATENT APPLICATION
[Alert]
Intellectual Property & Technology Update
April 2012 (No. 2)
Jay P. Lessler and Brian Wm. Higgins
U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES THAT GENERIC PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CAN COUNTERCLAIM TO CORRECT USE CODES IN FDA ORANGE BOOK WHEN SUED BY BRAND COMPANIES
[Alert]
Intellectual Property & Technology Update
April 2012 (No. 1)
Jay P. Lessler and Brian Wm. Higgins
THE COURTS AND CONGRESS TAKE AIM AT PATENT FALSE MARKING LAWSUITS
[Alert]
Intellectual Property Litigation Update
March 2011 (No. 1)
Brian Wm. Higgins, Jay P. Lessler and Charles R. Wolfe, Jr.
BILSKI: PATENT STATUTE DOES NOT FORECLOSE PATENTING BUSINESS METHODS
[Alert]
Intellectual Property and Technology Update
June 2010 (No.2)
Brian Wm. Higgins
E-DISCOVERY: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDE
[Article]
Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis
August 6, 2007
Brian Wm. Higgins
ALLOCATING PATENT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY RISKS
[Article]
Natural Resources & Environment magazine
Winter 2006
Brian Wm. Higgins
ADDING BUSINESS VALUE: A STRATEGY FOR IDENTIFYING AND PATENTING ENVIRONMENT-RELATED INVENTIONS AND AVOIDING PATENT INFRINGEMENT
[Article]
Business Strategy and the Environment, 12: 118-128
2003
Brian Wm. Higgins
LOWER SULFUR IN FUELS... AND RAISE YOUR PROFITS
[Article]
Chemical Innovation
October 2001
Brian Wm. Higgins
REIFFIN AND THE NEW ECONOMY: RETHINKING THE USE OF THE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION TO CURB SUBMARINE PATENT TACTICS
[Article]
11 FED. CIR. B.J. 23
2001
Brian Wm. Higgins
A DISCUSSION OF REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AND AIR DISPERSION MODELING APPROACHES APPLICABLE TO U.S. CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION FACILITIES
[Article]
48 J. Air and Waste Management Association 174
1998
Brian Wm. Higgins
News
BLANK ROME'S TRADEMARK PRACTICE RECOGNIZED FOR MOST FILINGS IN 2011
[Press Release]
January 12, 2012
Zachary A. Aria, Katherine Pauley Barecchia, Jamie L. Bertha, Kenneth L. Bressler, Steven L. Caponi, Lisa Casey Spaniel, et al.
BLANK ROME ELECTS TEN NEW PARTNERS TO THE FIRM
[Press Release]
December 15, 2010
Lisa Casey Spaniel, Jennifer Hale Eagland, Dacia A. Haddad, Brian Wm. Higgins, Adam E. Laver, Evan H. Lechtman, et al.
Cases And Deals
JHP PHARMACEUTICALS ACQUIRES MANUFACTURING FACILITY FROM KING PHARMACEUTICALS
[Deal]
October 1, 2007
James R. Staiger, Steven Dubow, Margaret Anne Hill, Barry Friedman, Brian Wm. Higgins, Arthur Bachman, et al.
JHP Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of a manufacturing facility from King Pharmaceuticals for $93 million.
NUTRITION 21 RECEIVES SETTLEMENT IN PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT
[Case]
December 2006
Thomas P. Dwyer, Charles R. Wolfe, Jr., Brian Wm. Higgins and Minh-Quan Khuc Pham
Blank Rome's IP team represented Nutrition 21 as they achieved successful settlement in the patent litigation case against General Nutrition Corporation (GNC), which included an acknowledgment by GNC that the Nutrition 21 patents are valid.