Stephan P. Gribok

Stephan P. Gribok

Stephan P. Gribok focuses his practice on intellectual property law, including patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition, electronics and automatic control technologies.

Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, he is a former patent agent and engineer. Mr. Gribok is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey State and Camden County bar associations.

A 1980 graduate of Rutgers School of Law - Camden, he received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Representative Matters

· Drafted and/or prosecuted patent applications for a major nuclear power generation component manufacturer, including technologies related to passive safety cooling system aspects; combatting loose debris in flow lines; process control software for maintenance prediction, and control room displays.

· Established and maintained US patent portfolio for European plumbing and bath fixtures manufacturer, obtaining approximately 150 patents for design and utility aspects of mixing water valves, showers, aerators and related devices over 20 years.

· Prepared and prosecuted US and PCT international applications for startup data communications products manufacturer using polarization state discrimination to enhance wavelength division multiplex communications.

· Handled US patent and trademark portfolio for established suppliers of coin and token acceptors, including branching out into new smartcard technologies with IP acquisitions.

· Obtained US patent protection for series of amusement park waterslide inventions enabling courses with uphill and downhill runs.

· Drafted and prosecuted U.S. Patent Re 33,045 - Markman, the patent involved in the watershed patent infringement case of Markman v. Westview Instruments, 517 U.S. 370 (1996), and supported infringement litigation of the patent in PA and NJ, appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and to the U.S. Supreme Court, and an action against the Commissioner of Patents under 35 U.S.C. 145.

· Developed US and international patent portfolio in self-erecting cardboard boxes adapted for fold-and-glue production machinery.

· Developed patent portfolios in diverse technologies including: laboratory animal housing systems; video production test equipment; pharmaceutical antidepressant peptide compositions; business method patents in insurance, building maintenance and security fields; gaming machines, terminals and networks; solid waste management containers, compactors, vehicles and handling devices; hunters' accessories and decoys; Internet search engine and web crawler technology.

· Supported intellectual property litigation in patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition matters on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants.

· Negotiated settlements in patent and copyright claims to avert litigation.

· Negotiated patent and copyright license and independent contractor agreements and license arrangements.

· Develop patent portfolio in video production test equipment; Close support in defensive infringement litigation.

Professional Activities

· Pennsylvania Bar Association

· New Jersey State Bar Association

· Philadelphia Bar Association

· Camden County Bar Association

Experience

· Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 1999-present

· Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner, 1990-1999

· Steele, Gould & Fried, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner, 1985-1990
- Associate, 1980-1985

· Corning Glass Works, Erwin, New York
- Control Engineer, 1973-1977

· United States Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
- Electrical Engineer, 1971-1973

Selected Publications

· "Warnings for Trade-Dress Protection on the Road to the Supreme Court," The Legal Intelligencer, August 3, 2000

· Co-Author, "Silhouette Case Shades Parallel Importation Rules in Europe," The Legal Intelligencer, April 1, 1999