Novak Druce + Quigg rang in 2012 by announcing the addition of partner Michael O’Neill, a former administrative patent judge at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. Earlier, in March 2011, the firm added former Howrey partner Janelle Waack, who specializes in patent interference hearings.
The moves were all about the America Invents Act (AIA), which took effect in September. The law will expand the avenues for challenging other parties’ patents. It also adopts the first-to-file test for settling disputes over patents filed after March 16, 2013. The added expertise in handling the motions, depositions and evidence-taking in interferences proceedings should translate well to the new, similarly adversarial procedures, according to executive partner Tracy Druce.
