Robert E Sokohl is a director in the electronics group at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox PLLC, a Washington DC-based IP specialty law firm. He has prepared and prosecuted thousands of patent applications on various technologies. He is responsible for the procurement, enforcement and licensing of intellectual property. A strategic adviser to multibillion-dollar companies, publicly traded companies and start-ups,

Mr Sokohl manages patent portfolios (both domestic and foreign) that include patent applications and patents ranging from only a few to over a thousand. Mr Sokohl is responsible for preparing patentability, stateof- the art, infringement and validity opinions. He has managed large IP due diligences relating to the acquisition of portfolios and/or companies. He has also filed numerous petitions for reexamination against third-party patents and prosecuted both ex parte and inter parte re-examinations.

Mr Sokohl also has significant litigation experience, particularly in defending clients in IP disputes.

Mr Sokohl was co-author of the appellants’ brief filed in In re Beauregard, 53 F3d 1583, 35 USPQ2d 1383 (Fed Cir 1995). This case was brought by IBM to establish that a computer program on a disk was patentable subject matter. This case resulted in the US Patent and Trademark Office issuing software patent guidelines, which expanded the scope of patent protection for software.