Overview
Admitted to practice in Ohio and California only; not admitted to the D.C. Bar; practice limited to matters before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office as authorized by Rule 49(c)(2)
Robert Knecht Schmidt is an associate in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group. He has over sixteen years of experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the electrical and computer space. His work with software, machine learning/AI, processor architectures, network and wireless communications, and database technologies applications have resulted in issued patents for Fortune 100 companies, educational and healthcare institutions, and independent inventors. Robert also has extensive experience in digital and analog circuits, semiconductor devices and fabrication methods, and superconducting and quantum computing technologies, as well as flight controls, defense systems, machine vision, sensors, control systems, and medical devices and diagnostic methods. Robert’s experience addressing subject-matter eligibility rejections and navigating ex parte appeals before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board inform his strategic approach to crafting applications that foresee potential rejections and support a wider range of options for overcoming challenges during prosecution.
Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Robert worked as an in-house patent agent and patent attorney for a group of high-technology small businesses, as a patent attorney in an intellectual property boutique law firm in Cleveland, and as a patent attorney in a large general practice law firm. Robert has a B.S. in biomedical-electrical engineering and an M.S. in integrated media systems (electrical engineering and computer science), both from the University of Southern California, and attended law school at the Cleveland State University College of Law, where he was a managing editor of the law review and received an award as the top J.D./M.B.A. student.
Robert’s pro bono service has been recognized by the USPTO and the Ohio Patent Pro Bono Program. He also has the distinction of having been a Jeopardy! champion.
Education
- J.D., Business Law, Cleveland State University College of Law, summa cum laude
- M.B.A., Cleveland State University
- M.S., Integrated Media Systems (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), University of Southern California
- B.S., Biomedical-Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, cum laude