Derek Rhea

Patent Prosecution

• Drafted and prosecuted U.S. and international patent applications for artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software, telecommunications, industrial, and consumer-product technologies.
• Prepared claim amendments and responses addressing subject-matter eligibility, anticipation, obviousness, written-description, enablement, indefiniteness, and functional-claim issues.
• Managed continuation, PCT, foreign-prosecution, accelerated-examination, RCE, terminal-disclaimer, and post-allowance strategies across multinational portfolios.
• Counseled clients on claim scope, invention disclosure, freedom-to-operate, patentability, and the strategic balance between patent and trade-secret protection.

Intellectual Property Litigation

• Analyzed infringement, non-infringement, invalidity, claim construction, and subject-matter eligibility issues in patent disputes involving software, networking, optical, electrical, and mechanical technologies.
• Supported litigation strategy in federal district courts, including the Eastern District of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Northern District of California, and the United States Court of Federal Claims.
• Researched and developed positions concerning venue, cross-border discovery, privilege, extraterritorial infringement, summary judgment, damages, and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief.
• Assisted with cross-border patent and trade-secret disputes, including parallel U.S. and foreign proceedings, pre-suit risk assessments, and design-around analyses.

Technology Transactions

• Reviewed and revised intellectual-property provisions in technology, government-contracting, confidentiality, restrictive-covenant, and research-and-development agreements.
• Conducted intellectual-property diligence for corporate transactions, including review of ownership, assignments, inbound and outbound licenses, open-source software, liens, change-of-control terms, and development agreements.