Design Patents and IPR: Challenging and Defending Validity at the PTAB

Ms. Durkin is the practice leader of the firm’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group. With more than 35 years of experience obtaining and enforcing IP rights, she is sought out by leading consumer product companies and by colleagues around the world for her deep understanding of utility and design patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Ms. Durkin is the Vice Chair of the USPTO’s Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC), which advises the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property on the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of patent operations at the Office. She is also the chair of the Designs Committee for the INTA. Ms. Durkin is past chair of the Industrial Designs Committee of the IP Section of the ABA and of the Industrial Designs Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. In addition, she is past vice chair of the Industrial Designs Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association. Ms. Durkin has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at George Mason University Law School in Virginia and has spoken internationally on topics such as the interplay between design patents and trade dress, protection of graphical user interface designs and the user experience, The Hague Agreement, trademark co-branding and licensing, IP audits and mediation. Additionally, she co-hosts the biennial Design Law Conference, which aims to foster debate on cutting-edge design-related topics.

Ms. Ferrill focuses her practice on all aspects of design patents, including prosecution, counseling, and litigation. She also has extensive experience in utility patent litigation in the areas of software- and hardware-related technologies. She counsels clients who hold design patents as well as those accused of infringement. She has experience with consumer and industrial products, graphical user interfaces and icons. She has prosecuted families of design patents before the USPTO, directed prosecution in foreign countries, and argued appeals before the PTAB. 

Ms. Horn combines her extensive knowledge of Patent Office practice with her experience as a patent litigator to help clients build, assert, and defend strategic portfolios of utility and design patents. She helps clients with patent prosecution, non-infringement and invalidity analyses, written opinions, and pre-litigation diligence as a patent agent upon registration before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She maintains an active patent prosecution and counseling practice, assisting clients with building strategic portfolios of utility and design patents worldwide. She helps clients assert and defend patent infringement claims before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. district courts. Her technical experience spans a broad range of technologies.