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Nathan Kelley

Profile photo for Nathan K. Kelley
Profile photo for Nathan K. Kelley
Partner

Nathan Kelley

Informed by more than a decade at the top levels of the USPTO leading hundreds of Federal Circuit appeals, Nate provides a strategic approach to managing high-profile patent appeals.

Nathan Kelley assists clients with patent appeals, inter partes reviews at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and related USPTO work. He has argued more than forty Federal Circuit appeals, including several en banc cases, while overseeing the defense of hundreds of decisions of the PTAB and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) before the Federal Circuit.

Nate handles intellectual property matters involving a full range of technologies, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, and computer networking, and an equally broad range of legal issues. Beyond litigation (both in the federal courts and at the PTAB), Nate's experience includes helping develop USPTO rules and guidelines, shaping federal policy on various IP matters, and internally counseling the USPTO on its implementation of trial proceedings under the America Invents Act.

As its solicitor and deputy general counsel for IP law, Nate managed all IP litigation for the USPTO and participated in many of the most significant patent and trademark cases in recent years. Nate also acted as the agency's chief administrative patent judge, leading the PTAB during a critical period as it was coming up to speed with its jurisdiction over inter partes reviews under the AIA. Before his time in the solicitor's office and PTAB, Nate worked for six years at the Federal Circuit, including as a judicial law clerk. His career in IP law began more than 25 years ago as a patent examiner in the semiconductor field.

Education & Credentials

Education

  • George Mason, Antonin Scalia Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1999
  • George Mason University, B.S., 1993

Bar and Court Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Related Employment

  • United States Patent and Trademark Office, Alexandria, VA

    Solicitor and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law, 2013-2015; 2016-2018
    Chief Administrative Patent Judge (acting), 2015-2016
    Deputy Solicitor and Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property, 2012-2013
    Associate Solicitor, 2006-2012
    Patent Examiner, 1993-1999
  • George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C., Professional Lecturer in Law, 2012-2013
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D.C., Technical Assistant, 2000-2005
  • Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, Washington, D.C., Associate, 1999-2000
  • Defense Information Systems Agency, Reston, VA, 1990-1991

Clerkships

  • Nathan Kelley > Clerkships, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Professional Recognition

  • Ranked by Chambers USA as “America’s Leading Lawyer” for Intellectual Property: Appellate, 2023-2024

  • Listed in Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000, 2022-2024

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Litigation - Patent Law, 2023-2024

  • Named "Intellectual Property Trailblazer" by The National Law Journal (NLJ), 2020

  • Recognized as an IP Star by Managing IP,  2021-2024

Impact

Professional Leadership

  • Member of The Advisory Council for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2013-2018
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