Jon Wright is a Director at Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox based in Washington, D.C. Mr. Wright chairs the firm’s appellate practice, and co-chairs its PTO litigation practice. He focuses primarily on contested proceedings before the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and on appeals of those cases to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is a recognized leader in inter partes review practice where there is co-pending district court litigation or a USITC investigation. He is familiar with the challenges faced by both patent owners and petitioners in these complex proceedings, often working closely with trial counsel as part of an inter-disciplinary team.
Mr. Wright has been lead or back-up counsel in over sixty inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, mostly on behalf of patent owners. In one of the earliest success stories for patent owners, Mr. Wright successfully defended a set of four IPRs, securing confirmation of all challenged claims in the digital rights management space. More recently, Mr. Wright secured key non-institution decisions in four IPRs on two patents for a Fortune 500 IT company, and in two IPRs on one patent for an innovator medical device company.
The involved technologies in Mr. Wright's IPR cases include semiconductor design and fabrication, digital rights management, RFID, computer networking, optical switches, medical devices, and stray voltage detection technologies. Prior to the new AIA proceedings, Mr. Wright represented patent owners in over fifty inter partes and ex parte reexaminations involving concurrent district court or USITC proceedings.
Mr. Wright also has extensive appellate experience at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Mr. Wright clerked at the Federal Circuit for the Honorable Alvin A. Schall. He has been either lead counsel or second chair in over a dozen appeals to the Federal Circuit. Mr. Wright recently secured affirmance of a PTAB decision for a Fortune 500 global communications company.
Mr. Wright is also an editor of Patent Office Litigation, a two-volume set focused on the new contested proceedings under the America Invents Act published in 2012 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw. This book examines how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, and delivers practical analysis and advice.
Prior to focusing on contested proceedings, Mr. Wright had extensive experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications before the USPTO in technologies ranging from software, hardware (analog and digital), communications, wireless devices and systems, networking, database management, computer memory devices, semiconductor manufacturing, computer graphics and electrical power systems including nuclear technology.
While at George Mason University School of Law, Mr. Wright was the Managing Editor of the George Mason Law Review. Before law school, Mr. Wright was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force. His tour included three years on the nuclear powered fast attack submarine USS TAUTOG (SSN 639), and two years with COMSUBGRU 7 in Yokosuka, Japan. In addition to being a qualified Naval Nuclear Engineer, Mr. Wright also has private industry experience where he worked in semiconductor manufacturing for industry leader International Business Machines.