An Introduction to Patent Law and Legal Career Paths for Engineers and Scientists

Director Richard Bemben was a guest lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His lecture titled “An Introduction to Patent Law and Legal Career Paths for Engineers and Scientists” was held on November 3, 2023. 

Lecture Overview

The U.S. patent system seeks to protect innovation by allowing inventors to secure an exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing their inventions. From Thomas Edison’s light bulb to Apple’s “swipe to unlock” – and millions of inventions in between – individuals as well as large organizations have leveraged the patent system to bring products to market and to protect their business interests. Join Richard Bemben, a Director in Sterne Kessler’s electronics practice group in Washington, D.C., to learn the basics of the U.S. patent system and about alternative career paths for engineers and scientists who are interested in patent law. Richard is a patent attorney who holds degrees in computer and electrical engineering and was an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before beginning private practice. He also spent the summer of 2004 in RIT’s impressive cleanroom, learning RIT’s then-standard pMOS process in order to conduct a technology transfer to Virginia Tech, where Richard obtained his engineering degrees.