Professional Experience

Anthony M. Zupcic, a partner in the firm since 1980, is Chair of the firm’s Patent Prosecution Practice Group.

Over the past 30 years, Mr. Zupcic has been involved in all aspects of intellectual property law, with particular emphasis on interference practice, patent prosecution and client counseling. Some of the technologies he has worked in include medical devices, computer hardware, flat panel displays, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing, electrophotography, autofocus, optical waveguides, lasers, ink jet and other types of printers, facsimile machines and jet engines. Since the 1984 interference rules, Mr. Zupcic has been lead attorney in well over fifty interferences for such clients as Canon Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, IBM, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Loctite, and Microm International.  While most of these cases have been in the electrical and mechanical arts, several of the more recent cases have involved biotechnology. He has also been counsel in interferences on behalf of Medtronics, INA-Schaeffler KG, Neuronz, Ltd., Warner Lambert and United Technologies.

Some of the interferences he has worked on are:

• Amgen against Human Genome Sciences in Interference No. 105,468 involving a key receptor in the immune system.
  
  
• INA against Delphi in Interference No. 105,468 involving automobile valve lifters.
  
  
• Medtronic Navigation, Inc. against GE Medical Systems Global Technology in Interference No. 105,415 involving surgical navigation technology. 
  
  
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Fur Infektionsforschung Gmb, exclusive licensor to Bristol-Myers Squibb, against Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in Interference No. 105,298 involving epothilone C and epothilone D.
  
  
• Bristol-Myers Squibb against Tolerance Therapeutics, LLC in Interference Nos. 105,105; 105,106; and 105,107 involving fusion proteins.
  
  
• Matsushita v. Sakaguchi in Interference No. 105,263 relating to semiconductors.
  
  
• Stiller v. Heid in Interference No. 105,044 involving a specimen transport mechanism.
  
  
• West v. Van Damme in Interference No. 105,031 involving photosensitive printing plates.
  
  
• Shinomiya v. Hanya in Interference No. 104,097 involving liquid crystal displays.
  
  
• Riseman v. Kobayashi in Interference No. 103,780 relating to laser beam printer technology.
  
  
• Kaneko v. Sakaegi in Interference No. 103,000 involving camera white balance.
  
  
• Hoshino v. Tanaka in Interference No. 103,208 relating to autofocus.
  
  
• Katayama v. Levien in Interference No. 103,587 involving halftone imaging.
  
  
• Canon Inc. against various parties in Interference Nos. 102,090; 102,091, 102,092; 102,323; 103,212; 103,187; and 103,213, all relating to liquid crystal display technology.
  
  
• Shibuzaki v. Furuichi in Interference No. 101,822 relating to copy magnification in an electrophotographic copying machine.
  
  
• Lawrence v. Suzuki in Interference No. 101,692 relating to sheet sorters.
  
  
• Ito v. Masuda in Interference No. 101,278 relating to a scanning mechanism in an electrophotographic copying machine.
  

While in law school, Mr. Zupcic worked as an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examining patent applications in the area of hydraulic fluid systems.

 

Awards and Recognition

Listed in Legal 500 2007 in IP-Non-Contentious/Transactional – patent prosecution: “beginning his career as a USPTO patent examiner stands him in good stead when it comes to preparing and prosecuting applications.” He was also listed in Legal 500 2008 for Patent litigation: full coverage and Patent prosecution: utility and design and he was listed in 2009 patent prosecution: utility and design patents.

For the selection process, see:

Legal 500

Education

J.D., Georgetown Law Center, 1974
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, cum laude, University of Notre Dame, 1970, Tau Beta Pi (national engineering honor society)

Bar Admissions

State of New York, 1975; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Professional Activities

Incoming Member of the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Member and Immediate Past Chairman of the Professional Programs Committee of the AIPLA; Member and Past Chairman of both the Patent-Relations with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Committee and Interference Committee of the AIPLA; Member and Past Chairman of the Committee on Harmonization of Patent Laws of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association; Federal Circuit Bar Association; American Bar Association and Member of IPL Section Committees 101 (Patent Legislation), 103 (PTO Affairs), and 104 (Interferences).