Melissa E. Patterson

Melissa Patterson is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Melissa spends her in-office time at the firm's San Diego (Del Mar), Washington D.C., and Silicon Valley offices.

Areas of Practice

Melissa focuses her practice on the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, licensing, and litigation matters, particularly in the areas of software, computer and mechanical devices, AR/VR headsets, mobile communications, artificial intelligence and deep/machine learning, robotics, blockchain, insurance, hospital and health networks with records management, geophysical management, automotive technologies, and financial networks. She has prosecuted more than 1,000 U.S. and foreign patent matters, including acting as foreign counsel and working with foreign counterparts in other jurisdictions.

In her IP licensing practice, Melissa analyzes current and former open source licensing terms and, with her ongoing computer programming expertise, opines on patent and licensing issues for her clients.

Melissa has also assisted with over 200 trademark matters, conducted non-infringement and invalidity analyses for numerous IP litigation matters, provided technical expertise for pre-litigation and computer code-based issues, assisted with drafting and analysis of patent licensing matters, and assisted with various technical aspects of patent litigation cases.

Experience

Representative Matters

• Prosecuted more than 1,000 U.S. and foreign patent matters for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies
• Drafted in excess of 500 original patent applications, including conducting thorough invention disclosures and preparing claims, figures and specifications
• Patent prosecution included various technical and business art units with the USPTO
• Reviewed current and former open source licensing terms to draft plain language strategies for clients’ to discuss with their internal programming departments
• Drafted strategies for working with data use restrictions in view of open source licensing restrictions for various commercial uses

Honors

Ones to Watch - Intellectual Property Law, Best Lawyers, 2023-2024

Group Recognition, Intellectual Property Law Section SDCBA, for Variety of New Lawyer Content, San Diego County Bar Association, 2021

Group Recognition, Intellectual Property Law Section SDCBA, for Commitment to New Lawyers, San Diego County Bar Association, 2019

Articles

Intellectual Property Law Blog Posts

• "Key Rules and Cases for Patent Practitioners Working on AI Patent Applications," October 11, 2022
• "Takeaways From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Partnership Series – Part Two of Three," October 4, 2022
• "Takeaways From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Partnership Series – Part One of Three," September 29, 2022

• '3D-Printed Masks, Disinfecting Devices, and Simplified Ventilators – a Sampling of Tech Advances in the Age of COVID-19 from California Universities," May 27, 2020

• "COVID-19 Web-Based IP Platform to Facilitate Connections," May 19, 2020

Speaking Engagements

• Panelist, “5th Annual Roundtable: How to Get Into Intellectual Property Practice with Any Background,” San Diego County Bar Association, Webinar, September 25, 2023
• Panelist, "10 Year Review of ICS," University of California, Irvine, April 20, 2023
• Panelist, "5 Things Every Engineer/Programmer Needs to Know About Patents," University of California, Irvine, April 12, 2023
• Moderator, "Patent Practice Foreign Filing and Prosecution Tips," San Diego County Bar Association, December 15, 2022 
• Moderator, "AI/ML: Myth or Reality?" Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association's Washington in the West Conference, June 23, 2022
• Panelist, "UC Irvine ICS Alumni Lunch & Learn: Intellectual Property Strategy for Software," ICS Alumni Chapter's Lunch & Learn, April 9, 2021 
• Panelist, “3rd Annual Roundtable: How to Get Into Intellectual Property Practice with Any Background,” San Diego County Bar Association, Webinar, March 4, 2021
• Moderator, "Innovation in the Age of COVID-19," San Diego County Bar Association Virtual Roundtable, May 19, 2020

Events

Memberships

Executive Committee Member and Former Chair, Intellectual Property Law Section, San Diego County Bar Association