[Legacy Report] Patent Law for Engineers: How to safeguard your idea

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Working with a hypothetical, new product for detecting and monitoring wireless signals, we will explore various methods for protecting the product and its design (i.e., with patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks) and discuss how you would employ them. Our goal will be to develop a comprehensive strategy for product protection. Everyone will be encouraged to participate in the discussion.

Joel Miller has practiced law for over thirty years, specializing in patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and antitrust law. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Miller served as a patent examiner in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, examining patent applications in the fields of telemetry, digital display systems, and computers. He also served as patent counsel and counsel for the Kearfott Division of the former Singer Company, handling patent matters, licensing, trade secret and export issues, and employment-related litigation. Prior to establishing his solo practice in 1991, Mr. Miller was associated with the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City, where he worked on a variety of patent, trademark, and antitrust matters. Before graduation from law school, Mr. Miller held engineering positions with Aerocom, Inc., Coral Gables, Fla. (ground-based avionics), the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. (radar), and Research Cottrell, Inc. (pollution control), and has worked as a bench technician (high-frequency crystal filters), a draftsman, and as a licensed broadcast engineer (WEEX and WJRH, Easton, PA).

Mr. Miller is a member of the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York Bars, admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is the Legal Activities Chair for the North Jersey Section of the IEEE and is also active in the American Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, holding leadership positions and frequently speaking before both groups. Mr. Miller is the author of the book, Patent Appeals at the USPTO: Appellate Advocacy and Practice. Mr. Miller received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College in 1975 and a J.D. from the University of Miami in 1978.

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