Tag Archives: The Webb Law Firm

The Webb Law Firm Elects Kent E. Baldauf, Sr. as Chairman, Richard L. Byrne as President and Nathan J. Prepelka as Secretary

Posted on by theprossman

The Board of Directors of The Webb Law Firm has elected Kent E. Baldauf, Sr. as Chairman of the Board, Richard L. Byrne as President, and Nathan J. Prepelka as Secretary.

Mr. Baldauf succeeds William H. Logsdon, who was Chairman of the Board for 16 years. Mr. Byrne succeeds Russell D. Orkin, who was President of the Firm for 16 years. Mr. Prepelka succeeds Mr. Byrne as Secretary. Mr. Paul M. Reznick continues as Treasurer. The Board of Directors wishes to thank Mr. Logsdon and Mr. Orkin for their outstanding service to the firm. During their tenure, the firm, which specializes in Intellectual Property matters, has grown from 17 attorneys to 43 attorneys. Mr. Logsdon and Mr. Orkin will continue to practice Intellectual Property law with the Firm.

Mr. Baldauf is an Attorney with more than 40 years of experience with patents, trademarks, copyrights, and related practice areas. Mr. Baldauf received his J.D. degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, where he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Law Review. Mr. Baldauf received a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Byrne is an Attorney who has addressed every aspect of intellectual property law during his 34-year career. Mr. Byrne received his J.D. degree from the George Washington University, and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.  Mr. Byrne was a Clerk for the Honorable Judge Jack R. Miller for the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (the predecessor to the current U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit).

Mr. Prepelka is an Attorney who works with all aspects of intellectual property law, including computer-implemented method, systems, software, and business process patents, and cyber law matters involving domain name disputes and patent, copyright, and trademark Internet and computer issues. Mr. Prepelka received his J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law, and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Reznick is an Attorney with 27 years of experience with intellectual property law, including patent and trademark prosecution, patent interference, litigation and client counseling. Mr. Reznick holds a J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, where he majored in mechanical engineering and economics.

The Firm’s Management Committee continues to be headed by Chairperson Kirk M. Miles, who is joined by Lester N. Fortney and Kent E. Baldauf, Jr.

The Webb Law Firm has been helping innovators safeguard their discoveries, advance their technologies and achieve historic milestones since 1845. The Firm’s patent attorneys hold dual degrees in law and the sciences and combine their legal expertise with an in-depth personal understanding of business and industry. The Webb Law Firm is located in One Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Super Rad Pittsburgh Tech News Roundup

Posted on by Jonathan Kersting

It’s Thursday in Pittsburgh. That typically means Super Rad Pittsburgh Tech News Round Up if we can get to it. So don’t expect it every week, but we’ll sure try. Lots of great tech stuff that almost slipped through the shiny grates of the Tburgher grill. Check it out:

ComponentOne Releases a Collection of Widgets

ComponentOne, a leader in developer-productivity tools, has announced the 2012 release of Wijmo: a kit of UI widgets for HTML5 and jQuery development.  The centerpiece of this release is the stunning data visualization widgets, including more HTML5 chart types and new HTML5 gauges.

Originally debuted in the first quarter of 2011, Wijmo extends jQuery UI and provides everything from interactive menus to rich charts. This v2 release offers over 40 widgets with many enhancements to existing widgets.

“This is the most complete collection of tools a Web developer may access for creating interactive websites and applications,” said Chris Bannon, product manager at ComponentOne.

ANSYS Subsidiary Earns DesignVision Award for Innovative Electronics Software

A technology from Apache Design, Inc. — an ANSYS subsidiary — has earned a prestigious award celebrating innovative electronics tools that simplify customer design processes. RTL Power Model (RPM™) won DesignCon 2012’s DesignVision Award in the System Modeling and Simulation Tools category. Launched in late 2011, RPM technology enables organizations to optimize a wide range of power-sensitive applications, such as ultra-low-power electronics. The product helps ensure that power-related decisions can be made with confidence early in the design flow by bridging the power gap from register-transfer-language (RTL) design to physical implementation. This is the second DesignVision Award for Apache; its first was for PowerArtist™ technology in 2009.

ALung Closes $10M Series B Round

ALung Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of advanced respiratory products, announced today that it has closed a $10 million Series B financing round. The investment will support the continued commercialization of ALung’s flagship product, the Hemolung® Respiratory Assist System (RAS), which provides partial respiratory assistance to patients in acute respiratory failure. The device is expected to allow patients to avoid intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation in many cases. Read the rest at Business Wire.

The Webb Law Firm Hires Super-Sharp E-Commerce and Interactive Patent Attorney

Christian D. Ehret, an intellectual property attorney, joins The Webb Law Firm with a B.S. degree in Computer Science from American University and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated cum laude. Christian’s previous work experience includes software and web development with an emphasis on e-commerce and interactive media applications developed in a variety of programming environments. As the lead developer for an online retailer that owned and managed several e-commerce websites, Christian developed and modified applications that encompassed inventory control, electronic shopping cart and payment systems, interactive front-ends for retrieving data, displaying products, and facilitating user manipulation of images, and various web-based video games. Christian also oversaw search engine optimization, system and database maintenance, and design-oriented efforts.

PLSG Accelerator Fund Announces Final Close at $8.1 Million

The PLSG Accelerator Fund, LLC (Accelerator Fund), issued a statement through its Managing Director, John W. Manzetti announcing the final close of the Accelerator Fund at $8.1 million.

“We are thrilled to have raised this important fund in a tough investor climate. Our investment partners are an incredible group of value-driven investors who have shown strong support to the team and the sector, and have invested their own capital to prove their confidence,” said John W. Manzetti, Managing Director of the PLSG Accelerator Fund. “The Accelerator Fund is the only pure life sciences venture capital fund in our region, and as such, is critical to growing the life sciences industry and supporting a sustainable economy.” Mr. Manzetti continued, “Although institutional investors continue to weigh the risk and time involved in funding life sciences companies, they are willing to invest in what they see as “game-changing” technology. The Accelerator Fund supports the capitalization of life-saving and life-sustaining technologies and leverages in-depth sector knowledge, an experienced investment team and a network of commercialization alliances making it a value-added investment partner.”

Matric Certified to ISO 13485 Medical Device Standard

Matric, a full-service electronics manufacturing services provider, has recently certified to the ISO 13485 Medical Device standard by SARA Registrar.  ISO 13485 is an internationally recognized management system standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), specific to the manufacturing of medical devices.

“Our 41 years Electronics Manufacturing experience coupled with our ISO 9001, AS 9100 and now the ISO 13485 certified quality management system, confirms our commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction in every aspect of the business,” says Tracy D. Sandell, Director of Quality at Matric.  She adds, “Having the ISO 13485 certification will make us eligible to build medical device products for customers that require their suppliers to meet this standard.”

The Webb Law Firm hires experienced patent examiner, Michael Alexander

Posted on by theprossman

Michael P. Alexander, a new Patent Attorney at The Webb Law Firm, brings additional insights into metallurgical and electrochemical patent applications to the Firm’s long history of obtaining and litigating patents for its clients in the metallurgical technologies. He acquired his expertise as a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office and at a large, international law practice based in Washington, D.C. where he focused on prosecution and litigation of various electrical, mechanical and chemical technologies.

In addition, Michael has several years of experience working in a variety of electrical, mechanical and chemical technological areas, including liquid crystal, plasma and OLED displays, solar cells, HVAC, semiconductor designs and processes, laminate flooring, packaging technologies, and chemical and ceramic compositions and processes. Michael earned his B.S. in materials engineering and metallurgy and his J.D. at the University of Florida.

The Webb Law Firm has been helping innovators safeguard their discoveries, advance their technologies and achieve historic milestones since 1845. The Firm’s patent attorneys hold dual degrees in law and sciences and combine their legal expertise with an in-depth personal understanding of business and industry. The Webb Law Firm is located in One Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Visit www. webblaw.com for more information.

Jury awards The Webb Law Firm client, Newegg Inc., a complete defense verdict and rare patent invalidation

Posted on by theprossman

The Webb Law Firm announced today it was successful in defending its client, Newegg, Inc., the second-largest online-only retailer, from claims of patent infringement on three basic e-commerce functionalities. Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., a global communications company, accused both Newegg Inc. and Overstock.com, Inc. of violating U.S. Patent No. 5,649,131 (the ‘131 patent) relating to text boxes, drop down menus and similar functionalities, U.S. Patent No. 5,623,656, relating to the use of error messages, and U.S. Patent No. 5,404,507, directed to search functionality. The original defendants also included Amazon, QVC, Sears, K-Mart, Lands’ End, Intuit, and Zappos.

The defense argued that the three patents were not infringed, and that the ‘131 patent was invalid and never should have been issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because it was not original due to prior inventions. The jury found non-infringement of all three patents and invalidated Alcatel’s ‘131 patent as anticipated and obvious. The verdict was handed down on Friday, October 14, 2011 after a jury trial before the Honorable Leonard Davis in Tyler, Texas in Civil Action No. 6:09-CV-0422-LED.

Newegg Inc.’s General Counsel, Lee Cheng, issued the following statement: “Special thanks and recognition are due to Kent Baldauf, Jr. and his team at The Webb Law Firm for their outstanding case preparation and presentation and to Ed Reines of the Weil Gotshal firm for his attentive guidance on trial and appellate issues. They were spectacular. We would also like to thank our friends at Overstock.com and their talented legal team at the Bracewell firm for our effective partnership.”

The Webb Law Firm’s litigation team on the Newegg case was led by Kent Baldauf, Jr., and included David Hanson, Bryan Clark, James Bosco, Anthony Brooks, and Steven Johnston.

The Webb Law Firm has been helping innovators safeguard their discoveries, advance their technologies and achieve historic milestones since 1845. The Firm’s patent attorneys hold dual degrees in law and sciences and combine their legal expertise with an in-depth personal understanding of business and industry. The Webb Law Firm is located at One Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Hirshman Returns to The Webb Law Firm as a Shareholder

Posted on by Jonathan Kersting

Jesse A. Hirshman, Esq., has rejoined The Webb Law Firm where he began his legal career as a Law Clerk and Associate. Hirshman, who has practiced intellectual property law with a strong emphasis on biotechnology, is bringing a number of clients with him to The Webb Law Firm.

“At The Webb Law Firm, my clients will have access to a breadth of experience in patent as well as trademark and copyright law,” Hirshman commented. “Of course, I’m looking forward to bringing my experience into the mix at the Firm.” In addition to managing domestic and international patent portfolios for corporate, university and individual clients, Hirshman has experience in the biotech, pharmaceutical and chemical fields. He has prepared and prosecuted patent applications in the fields of genetics, cell biology, regenerative medicine, pharmaceutical agents, treatments and delivery, in silico modeling of biological processes, plants and agriculture, polymer and organic chemistry, micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS), foods, nutraceuticals and cosmetics.

Earlier in his career, Hirshman was involved in all aspects of patent preparation and prosecution, patent counseling, FDA counseling, management of a large corporate international patent portfolio and management of an international trademark portfolio. The Webb Law Firm has been helping corporations of all sizes and innovators safeguard their discoveries, advance their technologies and achieve historic milestones since 1845. The firm’s patent attorneys hold dual degrees in law and the sciences and combine their legal expertise with an in-depth personal understanding of business and industry.