In Memoriam: IP Legend, Harold (Hal) C. Wegner

Several sources have confirmed to IPWatchdog that Harold “Hal” C. Wegner passed away several days ago. Dubbed a “patent law protoblogger,” Wegner was well-known in intellectual property (IP) circles, having created one of the first dedicated IP email newsletters.

Wegner was a partner with Foley & Lardner for 20 years, focusing on appellate patent cases as well as U.S. Patent and Trademark (USPTO) reexamination and other matters. In 2008, he helped to found the Linn Inn Alliance with the Honorable Richard Linn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and Olivia Luk of Jenner & Block in Chicago. He began his career as a patent examiner and spent eight years on the adjunct faculty at the Georgetown University Law Center. Wegner was also affiliated with the George Washington University Law School for 20 years, where he was Director of the Intellectual Property Law Program and Professor of Law. He also had academic affiliations with Tokyo University as a visiting professor, the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law in Munich, and the Kyoto University Law Faculty.

Nancy Linck, former Solicitor of Patents and Trademarks and Administrative Patent Judge in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Group at the USPTO, first posted on LinkedIn about Wegner’s passing. Her post drew dozens of comments from well-known members of the IP community, who remembered Wegner fondly. Retired CAFC Chief Judge Randall Rader, for instance, commented that Wegner “had more original ideas per second than anyone else I ever knew.” Others referred to him as a “luminary,” a “mentor,” and “a very committed and great patent lawyer.”

Wegner also founded the Naples Roundtable, which posted a tribute to him calling his voice “singular: insightful, principled, and always generous in sharing knowledge.” The Roundtable was established in 2016 and is now headed by Co-Presidents Teresa Summers and Andy Baluch, with advisory input from former USPTO Director David Kappos. According to its website, the Roundtable “explores ways to improve and strengthen the Patent System and accomplishes this mission by fostering an open dialogue among thought leaders, judges and academics on both sides of the ‘V.’”