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Reginald Ratliff

Partner

Vanguard/IP, LLP

Reginald Ratliff is a partner with Vanguard/IP, LLP. His technological experience includes software systems, semiconductor process technology, microprocessors, payment systems, artificial intelligence, cloud-based systems, consumer electronic products, mobile devices, digital systems, analog systems, communication networks, storage devices, and other electronics and computer related technologies.

Prior to founding Vanguard/IP LLP, Reg was a Shareholder at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Partner at Hanley Flight & Zimmerman LLC as well as Senior Counsel at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP.

He also worked as a Patent Examiner at the USPTO for 11 years, examining applications in the electrical arts and receiving 11 special achievement awards.

Recent Articles by Reginald Ratliff

The Language of Patents (Part II): Organizing the Descriptive Capability of the Detailed Description to Distinguish Patent Worthy Subject Matter from the Prior Art

In Part I of this series, we discussed  the importance of identifying and avoiding patentability-blocking ambiguities in a patent application. It is equally important that the patent application drafter bring a sensibility to the drafting of the application that recognizes that conceptually the application must not  simply be seen as a document whose job is to describe an invention but must also be understood to be a document that must have a descriptive capability that enables it to distinguish patent worthy subject matter from prior art. Thus, when the patentability of patent worthy subject matter disclosed by the application is challenged, the application can speak—it is able to defend its patentability. This capability is essential in both pre and post grant forums.

The Language of Patents (Part I): Equipping Patent Applications for Pre-and Post-Grant Success

Patents that are expected to protect a company’s most valuable innovations must stake a claim to that innovation and be equipped to defend it. This is because being worthy of patent protection doesn’t guarantee that an application’s claims to an innovation will not be rejected and rights to that innovation jeopardized. A major reason for this is that an examiner’s interpretation of a claim drawn to an innovation that may be worthy of patent protection may cause them to determine that the subject matter as claimed is not patentably distinct from the prior art. Such an interpretation can block the patentability of the claim in the absence of evidence that the examiner’s interpretation of the claim is not reasonable. Structural weaknesses of the detailed description that may or may not be addressed by patent drafting orthodoxy can result in a lack of a capacity to successfully manage challenges presented by an examiner’s interpretations of subject matter set forth in claims. An unorganized capacity to respond to such rejection challenges often leaves the practitioner with very little alternative but to amend claims in a manner that narrows protection to less than what the applicant’s invention should have received.

Past Events with Reginald Ratliff

IPWatchdog LIVE 2021

September 12-14, 2021