Steven P. Wigmore

Steve supports a wide range of patent clients, from small inventors to large Fortune 100 companies.  Steve also provides strategic IP advisory services to many clients. Steve also founded the website: www.YourPatentExpert.com.  This website provides helpful information about patents for start-up companies as well as entrepreneurs. Direct Dial: 678-775-8788 Email: swigmore@srtslaw.com

Prior to joining Smith Tempel, Steve worked for a decade with King & Spalding in Atlanta as senior counsel. With this background, Steve has a significant range of intellectual property experience in which Steve has addressed and resolved numerous legal and technology issues.

Steve has technical expertise in both the mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines. Prior to moving to Atlanta in 1999, Steve was a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for several years where he examined patents in a number of electrical engineering art areas including computers, electronic registers, antenna technology, barcode readers, ATM machines, IC cards and other data–bearing records. Steve also worked at the law firm of Birch, Stewart, Kolasch, and Birch LLP as a patent agent while he attended the evening law school program at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Experience

In his law practice, Steve supports a wide range of patent clients, from solo inventors to large Fortune 100 companies. Steve counsels start-up companies as well as individual inventors on how to build their intellectual property portfolios. He also advises clients on how to maintain and enforce mature portfolios. Steve serves both American and international (non-U.S.) clients seeking to protect their innovations and ideas in the United States.

Steve has supported many corporate transactions by conducting due diligence projects to assess large intellectual property portfolios and performing background work needed for intellectual property-related opinions. He has prepared patent invalidity, patent non-infringement and freedom to operate opinions as well as public protests against patent applications in connection with his due diligence support and other matters.

Steve has successfully represented clients in appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI). Steve has also prosecuted several trademark applications successfully to registration. His experience has also included preparing and negotiating license agreements for patents, trademarks and copyrights.

In the medical device field, Steve has prosecuted applications and obtained patents for a wide range of devices, such as automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), imaging and software diagnostic technologies, medical language computer systems, bioelectric stimulation/pain relief devices and instruments/systems for detecting specific medical conditions.

Steve has been invited by many organizations to speak about many different aspects of intellectual property law. He has lectured to members of the Georgia State Bar and students at Emory University’s law school, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Southern Polytechnic State University about topics such as intellectual property licensing and patent prosecution. He has also given presentations to engineering and business professionals during professional education programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) regarding the fundamentals of trade secret law as well as patent, trademark and copyright law.

Education

Law school

The Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, J.D.

Undergraduate college

University of Maryland, B.S.M.E, with a concentration on electronic packaging, computer–aided design and computer programming

Admissions

Steve has been licensed to practice in Georgia and Georgia Northern District Court since 2000.  He has been also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (1995).

Awards and recognitions

Steve has been appointed to several leadership roles in the Georgia State Bar and in several technology–oriented professional societies, including:

• Elected to the executive committee of the Georgia State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section to serve as the chair for the 2010–2011 term.
• Previously served on the executive committee of the Georgia State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section as chair–elect, vice–chair and treasurer, and also as chair of the Licensing Committee.
• Appointed to the board of directors of the Atlanta Electronic Commerce Forum (AECF) as its secretary for the past several years.
• Elected as chair of the Atlanta Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for the 2007–2008 term.
• Prior to serving the Atlanta ASME Section as chair, Steve served on the executive committee of the Atlanta ASME Section as its secretary and newsletter editor for the past several years.

Member

Steve is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Atlanta Bar Association and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Areas of practice

• Patents
• E-Commerce
• Emerging Growth Companies
• Intellectual Property Litigation Support
• Joint Ventures/Strategic Alliances
• Licensing
• Medical Device Technology
• Technology Transactions
• Copyright
• Trade Secrets & Non-Compete Agreements

Podcast - Intellectual Property (IP) Protection (an overview of IP) for Your Business Processes with Steve Wigmore brought to you by BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE - CURING BACK OFFICE BLUES with Alicia Butler Pierre.