Clint Wilkins, Ph.D.
Biography
Clint Wilkins focuses primarily on patent law and leverages his extensive technical knowledge and experience to assist clients with inter partes reviews (IPRs), patent preparation and prosecution, patent litigation support, and related counseling. He advises clients in a variety of technical areas, including telecommunications, consumer electronics, health tech and medical devices, and chemical manufacturing, including artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to these and other areas. His practice includes counseling senior management of emerging technology companies at various stages of maturity to help manage all aspects of their intellectual property needs.
Clint has handled the complete life cycle of numerous IPRs for both petitioners and patent owners from institution to final written decision and, thereafter, appeal to the Federal Circuit. Technologies in his IPRs have spanned wireless protocols, error-control coding, multi-antenna/MIMO systems, multi-user detection, wireless physical layer technologies including CDMA and OFDM, radio-frequency circuits, implantable neurostimulators, spinal implants, and anti-counterfeit lottery tickets. He has extensive experience with complex wireless communications technology and associated standards development, having worked in these areas during graduate school, thereafter as an innovator in a corporate laboratory, and continuing to the present as a patent attorney. As a result, he is familiar with many of the major wireless technologies of the last 25 years, including those developed within 3GPP standards (including GSM, EDGE, UMTS, LTE, and 5G), and those developed within IEEE standards (including 802.11), enabling him to efficiently develop solutions for licensing and litigation matters involving SEPs.
Before law school, Clint worked for more than five years as an engineer for a large wireless equipment manufacturer in its corporate research and development labs in suburban Chicago. His projects involved research, development, proof of concept, and 3GPP standardization activities directed toward cellular phones and base stations. He is a co-inventor of four U.S. patents and has published numerous articles in IEEE journals and conferences.
During his work as an engineer, Clint published one book chapter, four papers in refereed engineering journals, and eight papers in refereed engineering conference proceedings on wireless communications.
Clint Wilkins focuses primarily on patent law and leverages his extensive technical knowledge and experience to assist clients with inter partes reviews (IPRs), patent preparation and prosecution, patent litigation support, and related counseling. He advises clients in a variety of technical areas, including telecommunications, consumer electronics, health tech and medical devices, and chemical manufacturing, including artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to these and other areas. His practice includes counseling senior management of emerging technology companies at various stages of maturity to help manage all aspects of their intellectual property needs.
Clint has handled the complete life cycle of numerous IPRs for both petitioners and patent owners from institution to final written decision and, thereafter, appeal to the Federal Circuit. Technologies in his IPRs have spanned wireless protocols, error-control coding, multi-antenna/MIMO systems, multi-user detection, wireless physical layer technologies including CDMA and OFDM, radio-frequency circuits, implantable neurostimulators, spinal implants, and anti-counterfeit lottery tickets. He has extensive experience with complex wireless communications technology and associated standards development, having worked in these areas during graduate school, thereafter as an innovator in a corporate laboratory, and continuing to the present as a patent attorney. As a result, he is familiar with many of the major wireless technologies of the last 25 years, including those developed within 3GPP standards (including GSM, EDGE, UMTS, LTE, and 5G), and those developed within IEEE standards (including 802.11), enabling him to efficiently develop solutions for licensing and litigation matters involving SEPs.
Before law school, Clint worked for more than five years as an engineer for a large wireless equipment manufacturer in its corporate research and development labs in suburban Chicago. His projects involved research, development, proof of concept, and 3GPP standardization activities directed toward cellular phones and base stations. He is a co-inventor of four U.S. patents and has published numerous articles in IEEE journals and conferences.
During his work as an engineer, Clint published one book chapter, four papers in refereed engineering journals, and eight papers in refereed engineering conference proceedings on wireless communications.
- Tech Titans, Board of Directors (2022-present)
- Institute for Law and Technology (Center for American and International Law), Plano, TX, Vice Chair (2022-present)
- Module Co-Chair, 59th Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law, Plano, TX, November 2021
- Clemson Honors College Advisory Board (2021-present)
- Morning Module Co-Chair, 58th Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law, Plano, TX, November 2020
- Patent Prosecution Module Co-Chair, 57th Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law, Plano, TX, November 2019
- PTAB Bar Association
- State Bar of Texas
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Selected for inclusion in Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters, 2018
- Recognized with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by the Clemson University College of Engineering and Science, 2012
- Recognized for Outstanding Performance in Global Standards Activities by Motorola, 2003
- "IPR Aftermath: Reexamination, Issue Preclusion, and Leveraging the Record," panelist, IPWatchdog PTAB Masters™ 2024, January 30, 2024.
- "Fed. Circ. Decision Offers Lessons In Analogous Art Tests," author, LAW360, June 26, 2023.
- “Post-Vivint Patent Office Treatment of Ex Parte Reexaminations After Non-Instituted IPRs,” co-author, IPWatchdog, April 25, 2023.
- “Discretionary Denial Under Section 325(d): Nuances of Advanced Bionics Framework,” co-author, IPWatchdog, October 31, 2022.
- “Tech Titans Emerging Growth Forum – Protecting Your IP,” co-panelist, (moderated by Hope Shimabuku, Director of the Texas Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office), September 28, 2021.
- “The U.S. Patent Office’s guidance on indefiniteness in AIA post-grant proceedings,” co-author, The Patent Lawyer, June 2021.
- “Evolving Contours of IPR Joinder,” co-author, Intellectual Property Magazine, February 25, 2021.
- “Ringing the Changes,” co-author, Intell. Prop. Mag. 41-43 (October 2020).
- “Introduction to IP,” co-presenter, University of Michigan, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, senior course on professionalism, September 2020.
- “PTAB Not Straitjacketed in Institutional Decisions,” co-author, Law360, January 06, 2016.
- “Potential Liability Issues Arising Under the AIA,” co-author, A CNA Professional Guide for Lawyers and Law Firms, September 2013.
Education
M.S., Electrical Engineering, Clemson University, 1996, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Clemson University, 1999, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
B.S., Electrical Engineering, Clemson University, 1994, summa cum laude; W.M. Riggs Award (to the most outstanding senior in electrical engineering at Clemson University)
J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law, 2008
Admissions
Texas
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Court Admissions
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Haynes Boone and 15 Lawyers Achieve High Marks in 2024 Patexia PTAB Intelligence Report
September 24, 2024
Wilkins in Law360: ‘Fed. Circ. Decision Offers Lessons in Analogous Art Tests’
July 05, 2023