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Our Patent Prosecution Team

Attorneys

Meredith Martin Addy

President & Co-Founder · Registered Patent Attorney · Electrical Engineer

Practice Areas

Portfolio strategy · Prosecution strategy · PTAB proceedings · Federal Circuit appeals · Licensing

Distinctions

100+ district-court patent cases and 100+ Federal Circuit appeals.

Robert P. Hart

President & Co-Founder · Registered Patent Attorney · Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

Practice Areas

Software & AI · Electrical and industrial systems · Patent prosecution · Licensing and transactions · Emerging companies

Distinctions

30+ years of private-practice and in-house experience integrating patent, business, and corporate strategy.

Gregory B. Gulliver

Partner · Registered Patent Attorney · Former Software Engineer

Practice Areas

Wireless communications · Software · Semiconductors · Patent prosecution · PTAB and IP transactions

Distinctions

Nine years in software engineering at Motorola and Bell Northern Research, followed by hundreds of patent applications.

Brandon R. Theiss

Partner · Registered Patent Attorney · Licensed Professional Engineer

Practice Areas

AI & software · Medical devices · Patent prosecution · § 101 strategy · Post-grant proceedings

Distinctions

Former engineer and post-grant practice leader; Villanova Law adjunct professor.

Tom J. Filarski

Senior Counsel · Registered Patent Attorney · Chemist & Chemical Engineer

Practice Areas

Medical devices · Pharmaceuticals · Chemistry and materials · Patent prosecution · Global portfolios and licensing

Distinctions

Four decades of experience and past president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada).

James B. Hatten

Senior Counsel · Registered Patent Attorney · Computer Engineering

Practice Areas

Software and computer systems · Telecommunications · Electronic payments · Patent prosecution · IP risk management

Distinctions

Combines patent prosecution with complex patent-litigation and technology-dispute experience.

Michael K. Kelly

Partner · Registered Patent Attorney · Electrical & Industrial Engineering

Practice Areas

Aerospace & avionics · Semiconductors · Medical devices · Patent prosecution · Global portfolios

Distinctions

30+ years of experience, hundreds of applications prosecuted, and two U.S. patents as a named inventor.

Scott D. Paul

Partner · Registered Patent Attorney · Materials & Mechanical Engineering

Practice Areas

AI & large language models · Semiconductors · Cloud computing · Patent prosecution · PTAB appeals

Distinctions

 2,000+ U.S. applications prosecuted and 1,000+ PTAB appeal briefs filed.

Janet Pioli

Senior Counsel · Registered Patent Attorney · Molecular Biology & Biotechnology Background

Practice Areas

Medical devices · Biotechnology and diagnostics · Portfolio development · Patent clearance · Due diligence

Distinctions

30+ years of experience, including PTAB and Federal Circuit oral advocacy.

Craig McLaughlin

Senior Counsel · Registered Patent Attorney · Biology Background

Practice Areas

Medical devices · Mechanical and consumer products · Design patents · Patent prosecution · Post-grant matters

Distinctions

Nearly 30 years of experience spanning prosecution, litigation, reexamination, and Federal Circuit advocacy.

Robert Hyun Chang, registered patent attorney and of counsel at Divergent Patent Law

Of Counsel · Registered Patent Attorney · Materials Engineer

Practice Areas

AI & software · Semiconductors · Patent prosecution · Licensing and monetization ·

Distinctions

More than 25 years of experience spanning Intel, InFocus, Intellectual Ventures, and private practice, with cross-border licensing experience and fluency in Korean.

Danielle Gross, Ph.D.

Registered Patent Agent · Ph.D. in Biochemistry · Life Sciences & Medical Devices

Practice Areas

Biotechnology · Molecular diagnostics · Medical devices · Pharmaceuticals · Chemistry · Materials science

Distinctions

10+ years of patent prosecution experience backed by Ph.D. and postdoctoral research in biochemistry, metabolism, and endocrinology.

Eric Wait, PhD

Technical Advisor · Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering · AI & Data Science

Practice Areas

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning · Data Science ·  Computer Vision and Image Processing · 

Biomedical Imaging ·  Computational Biology · Cancer Diagnostics ·  Cloud and Distributed Computing

GPU Acceleration · High-Performance Computing · Robotics and Medical Devices 

Distinctions

Named inventor, creator of GPU-accelerated scientific software used by researchers worldwide, and co-author of more than 25 peer-reviewed publications.

Patent Operations

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Paralegal Lead · Patent & Litigation Operations

Practice Areas

Patent prosecution administration · U.S. and foreign filing coordination · Docket management · Client reporting

Distinctions

Leads administrative and paralegal support for Divergent’s patent practice.

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Docketing Lead · Litigation & Patent Operations

Practice Areas

Patent operations · Docketing · Litigation support · Federal & state court procedure

Distinctions

 25+ years of litigation and legal operations experience supporting complex intellectual property matters, patent operations, docket management, and civil litigation.

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