ThomasE. Watson

Thomas E. Watson was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1999, Pennsylvania State Bar in 1999 and Washington State Bar in 2004. He has also been registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1998. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1995 (cum laude), and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University Law School in 1998.

In addition to servicing a variety of clients, Tom has gained valuable in-house perspective from working closely with select clients as a “virtual in-house attorney” for several terms, supporting internal front-line patent planning teams, as well as the corporate standards and strategies team. While his clients range from startups to Fortune 100 companies, Tom’s practice primarily focuses on patent counseling, including patent procurement, portfolio development, risk management (e.g., non-infringement analysis, invalidity assessments, formal opinion preparation/presentation, acquisition analysis/due diligence, adverse portfolio analysis, etc.), licensing, and industry standards participation.

Tom's technical expertise encompasses a wide range of technologies including software design, wireless technologies, networking, industrial control, programming paradigms, computer hardware, sub-chip level design, gaming platforms and peripherals, advanced mathematics, encryption, signal processing, web-based inventions, user interfaces, communications protocols, software APIs and hardware interfaces, and analog and digital circuit design.

Tom is a member of the New York Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Washington State Patent Law Association.

He is also the author of:

• “A Little Knowledge can Hurt! The Quandary of a Balanced IPR Policy,” co-authored with Michele Herman for the AIPLA Spring 2006 Meeting Papers
• “Forming Effective Patent Strategies for New Technologies,” co-authored with Michael J. Swope, which was published in IP Value 2005 by Intellectual Asset Magazine
• “Protective Orders in Patent Litigation,” co-authored with Stephen C. Timmins, which was published in the National Law Journal’s July 2001 intellectual property section
• “Licensing of Business Method Patents,” published and presented at the 16th Annual Joint Seminar Program of the New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Connecticut Intellectual Property Law Associations’ Meeting Papers in April 2000