Polk Wagner

Croak Distinguished Scholar and Expert Consultant

Polk Wagner is a Croak Distinguished Scholar, under the renamed Croak Visiting Scholars Program (formerly known as an Edison Distinguished Scholar under the Edison Visiting Scholars Program) and an expert consultant at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. His research topics are related to patents and patent law, and advising agency leaders on policy matters.

Mr. Wagner is the Michael A. Fitts Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he has written over 20 articles on topics ranging from an empirical analysis of judicial decision-making in patent law to the First Amendment status of software programs. His work has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, among several other scholarly journals. He is also the co-author of "Patent Law: Concepts and Insights" (Foundation Press, 2008) and has been a frequent lecturer on intellectual property topics worldwide.

Prior to joining the Penn Law faculty in 2000, Mr. Wagner served as a clerk to Judge Raymond C. Clevenger III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He holds degrees from Stanford Law School, the University of Michigan, the College of Charleston, and he was the 1994-1995 Roger M. Jones Fellow at the London School of Economics.