Mark Thronson

Biography

Mark Thronson has 35+ years of successful experience in virtually every aspect of patent law, including patent litigation (cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars), patent post-grant proceedings, alternative dispute resolution, patent prosecution, opinions/counseling, and patent licensing.

Mark co-authored Intellectual Property Legal Opinions, Second Edition (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business), the leading treatise on IP counseling, which has been updated annually since 1999.

From 1982 to 1988, Mark was an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He became a primary examiner in 1987.

From 1994 through 2009, Mark was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught intellectual property law to graduate business students.

Outside the Firm

Outside the office, Mark devotes time to local baseball and other youth sports programs, and community volunteer activities. He was an original officer of LENS Foundation, a charitable organization headquartered in McLean, Virginia, that supports a Lutheran seminary in Novosaratovka, Russia.

Experience

  • Marposs S.p.A. et al. v. Jenoptik Automotive North America, LLC et al., No. 1:16-cv-09041—patent infringement litigation, represented plaintiffs/patentee.
  • Murata Machinery USA, Inc. et al. v. Daifuku Co., Ltd. et al., No. 2:13-cv-00866, District of Utah—patent infringement litigation, represented defendants.
  • Foster-Miller Inc. v. FLIR Detection Inc., No. IPR2019-01548, PTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board—multiple co-pending inter partes reviews, represented patentee.
  • Daifuku Co., Ltd. et al. v. Murata Machinery, Ltd., No. IPR2015-00083, PTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board—multiple co-pending inter partes reviews, represented petitioners.
  • Mapes Piano Strings Company v. Yamaha Corporation, Nos. 95/001,626, 2013-005391, PTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board—inter partes reexamination, represented patentee/respondent.
  • Scruples v. Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics, LLC, No. 95/000,117, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—inter partes (design patent) reexamination, represented third-party requester.
  • Esteve ex rel. Etamic S.A. v. Dall'Aglio, No. 105,615, PTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences—patent interference, represented senior party.

Recognitions

  • 2013, received the prestigious Burton Award for distinguished legal writing
  • 2012–2017, listed in Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers
  • 2018, listed in Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll

Credentials

Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Education

  • University of Wisconsin-Platteville, BA
  • George Washington University Law School, JD
Languages
  • Spanish