Patent Practitioners

David F. Underwood, Ph.D.

President, Registered United States Patent Agent (Reg. No. 65230)

Dr. Underwood leads the firm's patent practice. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has seventeen years of experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the U.S., internationally through the PCT, and before the European Patent Office.

His path to patent law ran through the laboratory: a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Colorado State University, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Vanderbilt University, and postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota, where he built ultrafast laser systems. He is an author of more than 20 scientific publications. He developed his legal skills at Fish & Richardson, P.C., working in both litigation and prosecution across a wide variety of technologies.

That training is why the firm takes on all subject matter. A practitioner who has done original research knows how to learn a new technology quickly and describe it precisely, whether the invention is a hand tool, a machine-learning system, or a pharmaceutical process.

Outside the office, Dr. Underwood is a father of three, a pilot, a retired skydiving instructor and fire captain, and an avid ice hockey player.

Our team

We keep overhead low and quality high by using scalable teams: patent agents, attorneys, scientists, illustrators, and paralegal professionals brought in as each matter requires. You pay for the people your project needs, and your case is always in the hands of a registered practitioner who knows it.