BIOGRAPHY

Neil Kardos is a patent attorney specializing in patent application drafting. He has drafted over 500 patent applications for a wide variety of Patent 300 companies, and has provided oversight and training on hundreds more. When drafting patent applications and training others, Neil focuses on six key patent prosecution objectives: quality, uniformity, innovation, efficiency, timeliness, and service (QUIETS).

To help others achieve these objectives, Neil has teamed with Shawn Lillemo to champion the implementation of innovative software solutions for patent prosecution, including Patent Draftr (a drafting tool that automates portions of patent application drafting to save at least two hours per patent application), PatentMail (an email tool that interfaces with docketing systems to auto-generate emails), PatentForms (a tool to automatically fill out USPTO forms), and Patent Searchr (a search tool that automatically populates a database of filed applications by connecting to private PAIR). These tools have been implemented firmwide at Harrity and have been licensed to other patent firms, companies, and patent practitioners.

Neil’s work on the QUIETS objectives extends beyond software tools, and he utilizes his degree in industrial and systems engineering to apply lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and data-driven management principles to patent prosecution. He has implemented these principles at Harrity, and he has consulted with other law firms and companies to apply these principles to their patent prosecution management practices. Neil is the creator and host of Practical Patents, a short video series in which he shares these principles and strategies.

Neil also conducts monthly webinars for patent practitioners, where he demonstrates Patent Draftr and other software tools. He has also been a panelist at the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association (IPO) annual meeting, the Corporate IP Institute, and for IPWatchdog, where he has provided thought leadership on data-driven firm management, patent analytics, competitive benchmarking, and addressing gender disparity in the patent field.

Prior to joining Harrity in 2012, Neil worked as a Primary Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he examined business method patent applications.

CONTACT

NEIL KARDOS

PARTNER

Phone: 571-432-0800

EDUCATION

The George Washington University National Law Center
(J.D, with honors) – 2011

University of Florida
(B.S., Industrial & Systems Engineering, cum laude) – 2007

ADMISSIONS

United States Patent and Trademark Office
Virginia

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Panelist. “LAW FIRMS NAVIGATING NEW FRONTIERS,” Anaqua, Webinar (October 2020)

Panelist. “EXCELLENCE IN IP LAW FIRMS: HOW LAW FIRM STRUCTURES EVOLVE,” IPwatchdog, Inc., Virtual Thought Leadership Panel (October 2020)

Moderator. “STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING GENDER DISPARITY IN PATENTING,” 2018 Corporate IP Institute, Atlanta, GA (October 2018)

Moderator. “STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING GENDER DISPARITY IN PATENTING,” 2018 IPO Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL (September 2018)

Moderator. “USING IP ANALYTICS TO MANAGE YOUR PORTFOLIO, YOUR TEAMS, AND YOUR PERFORMANCE: A COMPARISON ACROSS COMPANIES AND INDUSTRIES,” 2016 Corporate Intellectual Property Institute® (CIPI), Atlanta, GA

Speaker. “TRENDS IN CORPORATE IP MANAGEMENT,” 2013 IPO Annual Meeting, Boston, MA

PUBLICATIONS

Contributor. “2017 IPO Corporate IP Benchmarking Survey,” Intellectual Property Owners Association (September 2017)

Coauthor. “Analysis of 2013 Board Decisions Regarding ‘Configured to’ Language,” Patently-O.com (Feb. 2014)

Contributor. “2013 IPO Corporate IP Benchmarking Survey,” Intellectual Property Owners Association (September 2013)

AFFILIATIONS

American Intellectual Property Law Association
Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)
IPO Corporate IP Management Committee
Virginia State Bar Association

TESTIMONIALS

“I had an opportunity to work with Neil on number of occasions on drafting patent applications. Neil has written several patent applications for me and his work is always high quality. Neil quickly grasps new ideas, takes the time to make sure he understands my inventions, and he is great at explaining complicated technologies in writing. I highly recommend him.”

“Neil has been one of the primary patent attorneys I have worked with. While working with Neil, I submitted over 20 patents relating to software security solutions. I cannot stress how incredibly proficient Neil is at what he does. Often, we gave him very little information about the invention, effectively highlighting its novelty, the problem it’s solving, and answering questions. From that, Neil consistently produces exactly what we envisioned, and often the invention is even stronger as captured in the draft than we ever expected. I cant stress enough how unique Neil is in his industry. It’s rare to find a patent attorney so technically proficient, innovative, and friendly. It was an absolute pleasure working with Neil and his team, and I would work with them again in a second. If you’ve found the patent process stressful, tedious and time consuming, you haven’t met Neil and his team.”

Neil wrote a patent application for me. He immediately grasped the technical details, suggested further uses of the invention, and wrote the application in a very short time. It was a very readable patent application. When reviewing the application, Neil walked me through the claims and explained all the legal details of each and how they affected the others, which was very helpful when I had to review the application with my senior management, and the senior review went through with no changes. Neil was very helpful and personable through the entire process. I hope to get Neil assigned as the attorney for my next patent.”