NORMAN F. OBLON is a senior partner and the founding partner of the firm. A chemical engineer by training, he is also the former managing partner of the firm's Chemical Patent Prosecution group with a specialization in matters involving organic chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals and metallurgy. Prior to founding the firm in 1968, Mr. Oblon worked as a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and a civilian patent advisor for the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Oblon not only created one of the country's largest intellectual property firms, he developed a solid business model that in the last four decades has helped to bridge the gap between U.S. and foreign companies and brought them a greater understanding of the complexities of U.S. intellectual property law. He has represented some of the most prestigious companies in Europe and Japan, including Ajinomoto, Toshiba, Toyota Motor Company, Mitsubishi, BASF, Sony, L'Oreal, Exxon Mobil, IBM, Naval Research Laboratories and others, handling diverse matters involving all aspects of intellectual property protection, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress, and copyrights.
In the 1970s, Mr. Oblon recognized the tremendous opportunity in the still-undiscovered Japanese market. The country had yet to emerge as the economic powerhouse it is today and was ripe with business opportunities. At that time, foreign companies filing patents with the USPTO prosecuted their cases in the U.S. from outside the country by sending detailed, often adversarial, instructions to the U.S. local associate who merely transmitted those instructions to the USPTO. This frequently led to miscommunication and confusion and ultimately a breakdown in the relationship between the Examiner and the foreign company. Mr. Oblon persuaded the foreign companies to change the nature of the prosecution to allow him and the members of his firm to discuss the official actions from the USPTO with the Examiners first, before the foreign company issued their instructions to local associates. It was just a small, albeit completely logical, change to the then-established procedure, but for the foreign companies, it was a radical departure from the way business had been conducted with their U.S. associate law firms for more than 150 years. At first, the foreign companies were persuaded to follow Mr. Oblon's advice on an experimental basis, but they quickly became converts to his philosophy.
Mr. Oblon also groomed talented academics for a successful law career by identifying promising Ph.D.s and paying their law school tuitions. Oblon, Spivak was the first firm to develop a cadre of credentialed attorneys who knew the Patent Examiners and understood technology as it became more advanced. This move made it much easier to handle the technically oriented casework and became a powerful hiring model that has been replicated by many other firms today.
Another of Mr. Oblon's revolutionary initiatives was the Oblon, Spivak Client Training Program. In 1969, Mr. Oblon brought in his first trainees from Mitsubishi Chemical, Asahi Glass, Toyota Motor Company, and Toshiba to the firm's office. The firm developed a rigorous course load for the new recruits, which was supplemented with enrollment in the prestigious Patent Office Academy, an intense three-month training program originally designed for USPTO Examiners.
Mr. Oblon frequently lectures in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and England on patent protection, effective prosecution strategies, and U.S. legal trends and developments. He was recently elected to serve a three-year term until 2011 as a National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League.
Professional Affiliations
American Bar Association
American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
Anti-Defamation League (2009-2011)
Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI)
The Atlantic Council 2009, elected member (2009)
Board of Governors of Virginia Bar, Intellectual Property Section (2008-2010)
Corporate Leadership Council of U.S. Chamber of Commerce (2008-2010)
District of Columbia Bar
Governor's International Advisory Council (2010)
Intellectual Property Owner's Association, U.S. Patent Office Committee (2008-2010)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Corporate Leadership Council (2008-2010)
Legal Services of Northern Virginia, Executive Committee (2009-2010)
Virginia Bar Association
Accolades
Best Lawyers in America (2011, 2012)
National Law Journal - Champions & Visionaries (2011)
Baltimore & Washington, D.C.'s Top Attorneys (2011)
Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5
Patent Law Expert (1997-2005, 2009)
Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers, Lexis Nexis (2010)
Virginia Business Legal Elite (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)
Virginia Lawyers Weekly Leader in the Law (2009)
Corporate Leadership Council of U.S. Chamber of Commerce (2008-2010)
Governor of Maryland International Advisory Council (2010)
News
Seven Oblon, Spivak Attorneys Named To Best Lawyers 2012
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Oblon, Spivak Founding Partner Norman Oblon Recognized As a Visionary by National Law Journal
Monday, June 27, 2011
Seven Oblon, Spivak Attorneys Named To Washington, DC's Best Lawyers 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
Norman Oblon Honored by Virginia Lawyers Weekly as a Leader in the Law
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Virginia Business Names Norman Oblon of Oblon, Spivak to Legal Elite 2007 List
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Oblon, Spivak's Moot Court Room Featured on the March 2005 Cover of The Lawyers Magazine
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Events
Oblon Spivak Celebrates 40 Years
Monday, February 9, 2009
41st World Intellectual Property Congress
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Swiss Pharma Licensing Group Meeting
Sunday, January 21, 2007