People

Partners

240c37cCHRIS CURTIN

Chris is the Managing Partner at Summit Patent & Technology Advisors. Through his business and technology valuation analyses, Chris has helped clients raise millions to expand business operations and market and sell their technology products.

Chris also has experience in damages valuation and business consulting for government contractors, technology companies and nuclear utilities. His work for government contractors and technology companies includes ensuring Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) standards are met and maintained by contractors engaged in government work, and valuing settlements for terminated contractors. Chris’s nuclear utility work includes valuing the cost of spent nuclear fuel storage, as well as calculating nuclear plant operation & maintenance costs and decommissioning costs. He understands the many approaches to valuation and the assumptions and supporting documentation that are necessary to support a valuation. His work involves extensive reviews of accounting records, company policies and procedures, and market research.

Education:

University of Virginia, BS Finance and Management

Professional Certifications:

Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)

CAPPAT-JCurtinJOHN CURTIN

John is a General Partner at Summit Patent & Technology Advisors. For almost 25 years John has helped individuals and companies sell and license their technology and patents. John works closely with clients to develop a business strategy that maximizes the value of their technology and/or patents. John’s extensive negotiation skills have proven valuable to Summit’s clients. His extensive litigation experience has also proven to be critically important to those clients that are engaged in potentially adverse business relationships, both in counseling clients how to avoid litigation, and, if necessary, how to conduct litigation so that it maximizes the value of a client’s technology and/or patents.

John has negotiated dozens of patent licenses and sales involved in many diverse technologies spanning telecommunications, electronics and imaging, measuring instruments, databases and software, and military tools. To learn more about John’s expertise, click here.

Awards, Appointments & Noteworthy Publications:

  • March 2006, appointed to the State of Virginia’s Nanotechnology Manufacturing Advisory Committee.
  • In the May 2004 issue of MIT’s Magazine of Innovation & Technology, in an article entitled “5 Killer Patents” – a patent Mr. Curtin obtained for Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, Inc. was named as one of the 5 most important patents for 2004.
  • John authored an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in the leading patent jury trial case Markman v. Westview Instruments in 1996.

Education:

  • Seton Hall University, JD, 1988
  • Stevens Institute of Technology, BE Electrical Engineering, 1981

Bar Admissions:

  • Virginia
  • New Jersey
  • District of Columbia
  • US Patent & Trademark Office, Registration No. 37,602

Legal Consultants

GRANT E. POLLACK

Mr. Pollack has over 28 years of experience in the procurement of IP protection, investigation of infringement/invalidity issues, licensing and client counseling. He is also a highly experienced IP litigation attorney. Mr. Pollack has interacted extensively with corporate executives including chief legal officers and upper management, and has represented Fortune 500 clientele in all phases of patent practice.

Technology Expertise:

Mr. Pollack has extensive experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications before the USPTO, as well as preparing legal opinions directed to patent infringement, invalidity and enforceability in the following areas:

Computer software and components, Internet and e-commerce, robotics, lasers, nanotechnology, satellite communications, microprocessors, advanced engineering materials and materials processing, pharmaceuticals, aircraft components and medical devices.

Publications & Presentations:

Mr. Pollack has lectured extensively on topics in IP law including the following:

  • “Legal Issues Confronting Entrepreneurs”, New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business Administration
  • “Law of the Internet in New York”, National Business Institute
  • “Patent Law and its Business Applications”, American Corporate Counsel Association
  • “Intellectual Property Litigation” , Network of Trial Law Firms

Education:

  • Bachelor of Engineering, Vanderbilt University 1982
  • Master of Science, Yale University 1983
  • Juris Doctor, Case Western Reserve University 1987

Bar Admissions:

  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Pollack is also Managing Member of Pollack, P.C., New York, NY.

WENDY KOBA

Wendy Koba has over thirty years of experience as a patent attorney, the last fourteen in private practice. Prior to that Wendy worked as a patent attorney with AT&T Bell Labs for nineteen years. Wendy focuses her practice on the preparation of patent applications, and the development of patent portfolios for a variety of clients, including start-up companies, individuals and corporate clients. Wendy works with Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Center and Keystone Industrial Zone organizations, assisting their various new venture clients in obtaining patent protection.

Industry Experience: AT&T Bell Labs:

Wendy’s experience at Bell Labs was a rewarding introduction to the importance of “intellectual property” and provided her with the opportunity to work with many innovative individuals, including Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Wendy worked with engineering departments involved in satellite radio technology, digital communications, semiconductor processes & devices, and optical systems & components. The work was primarily associated with writing and prosecuting patent applications, and the drafting of patent licensing agreements. Prior to leaving Bell Labs, Wendy was involved in providing “in-house” support for patent litigation against MCI (dealing with 1-800 service).

Education:

  • Lehigh University, Bachelor Science in Electrical Engineering, 1978
  • Princeton University, Masters of Science in Information Science, 1979
  • Seton Hall University, J.D., 1983

Bar Memberships:

  • Pennsylvania
  • Registered to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office

Technology Expertise:

  • Wendy has written applications covering, or litigated patents involved in, the following areas:

Telecommunications:

  • Satellite radio technology, digital communications, cellular system architecture and components advanced/intelligent network design and components (SDN, 1-800)

Microelectronics:

  • Semiconductor processes & devices, extensive work with CMOS devices & fabrication processes, CMOS fabrication techniques, gate arrays (including FPGAs), sub-micron devices and related lithography techniques, chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) processes, integrated electronic circuits.

Optoelectronics

  • Components including lasers, photodiodes, amplifiers, and isolators; optical fibers including communication fibers and sensor fibers; integrated optoelectronic assemblies and systems; silicon-based integrated optics systems, including transmitters, receivers, transceivers and optical subsystem.

Alternative Energy & Power Related technologies:

  • Electric power grid control arrangements, alternative energy including solar collector & concentrator arrangements.

JAMES MORRIS

Mr. Morris applies his extensive background in the chemical and biological fields, developed through years of laboratory research in food science, biofuel production, and drug discovery, to his practice of drafting and prosecuting patent applications. Additionally, Mr. Morris applies his experience in chemical, biological, and nuclear counter-terrorism technologies, developed while obtaining his Master’s degree in Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases, to his practice of drafting and prosecuting patent applications.

Research Experience: 

Mr. Morris has extensive research experience including: 

  • Comparison of submerged-state and solid-state fermentation for bioprocessing of switchgrass by Clostridium thermocellum for biofuel production.
  • Use of antisense RNA to knockdown and study Lmo2219’s role in Listeria monocytogenes virulence.
  • Production of CodY deficient Listeria monocytogenes mutants for the genome-wide screening of genes required for biofilm formation.
  • Escherichia coli cell surface expression library screening for peptides that inhibit anthrax protective antigen binding to the mammalian receptor capillary morphogenesis gene protein 2.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Microbiology, Clemson University 2009
  • Master of Science in Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Disease, Georgetown University 2010
  • Juris Doctor, American University Washington College of Law 2014

Bar Admissions:

  • Virginia
  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office