COATS & BENNETT - Key Persons
Dave Bennett has practiced as a patent attorney in the Raleigh area since 1985. He is a member of Coats + Bennett and has been with the firm since it was founded in 1987. Prior to that time, he was an associate in the firm of Mills & Coats. Mr. Bennett's practice includes litigation involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. He provides representation at both trial and appellate court levels. His experience also includes multi-party proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office. He has ample experience preparing and prosecuting applications for patents and trademarks and handling appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals. He offers opinions concerning the validity and infringement of issued patents, as well as advice on how to "design around" valid patents. He also counsels clients in the selection of distinctive and enforceable trademarks.
Deirdre is a registered patent attorney whose practice includes preparing and prosecuting domestic and foreign patent applications in a wide range of areas. Her technical focus includes computer systems software, imaging systems, and extended reality. Deirdre also has experience in searching prior art in relation to patentability, invalidity, and freedom to operate.
Prior to her legal career, Deirdre was a Primary Examiner for seven years in art unit 2482 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She was responsible for the examination of technologies including video encoding for stereoscopic displays, autonomous driving systems, and medical devices.
Before joining the USPTO Deirdre worked at Ball Aerospace as a software engineer developing applications to control and test space flight hardware. She also worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in support of space data analysis, flight software and hardware testing, and the monitoring of spacecraft in the Earth's orbit.
EDUCATION
North Carolina Central University School of Law, Durham, North Carolina
Juris Doctor
Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland
B.S., Computer Science, Magna Cum Laude
Coats & Bennett, PLLC, one of the nation's highest rated intellectual property law firms, is proud to announce that Gavin Parsons has been elected as
Jennifer Stewart brings an extensive background in systems engineering and fiber optics to Coats & Bennett. Her work at Harris Corporation focused on acousto-optic receivers and fiber optic processing susbsystems.
Ms. Stewart earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, summa cum laude, with a Minor in Mathematics from the University of Florida in 1994, and earned a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida in 1996. Her Master's Thesis, "Time-Resolved Optical Flow Visualization," involved designing an optical interferometric system capable of capturing and processing stable images of high-speed, time-dependent gaseous flows in volatile environments to provide data necessary for refining complex mathematical models of such flows.
Ms. Stewart has been registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 2003, and has worked at Coats & Bennett since 2002. While at Coats & Bennett, Ms. Stewart has worked in a wide range of technology areas, including wireless telecommunciations, optical systems, fiber optics, medical systems, electronic systems, waste water treatment, and mechancial structures.
Mr. Owen has prepared and prosecuted a variety of patent, trademark and copyright cases for Coats + Bennett since 1994. His client base ranges from Fortune 500 corporations to the garage inventor, leading to a stimulating array of projects. "My clients are energized by having given birth to novel concepts," he says, "and my job is to act as their confidante and counselor as that idea becomes reality." In his more than twenty years of practice, Mr. Owen has consistently emphasized that collaboration as he has worked to secure mechanical, electrical and biomedical patents. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law, teaching Patent Law.
For over 40 years, Larry Coats has prosecuted patent applications before the United States Patent Office, litigated patent infringement cases in various Federal District courts, and argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Larry strives to do quality work that favorably impacts his clients' businesses. He is experienced in many areas of Intellectual Property, including patent and trademark infringement litigation, as well as the preparation and prosecution of patent applications before the United States Patent Office. He has served a lead counsel in numerous patent and trademark infringement litigations. Larry has also drafted and negotiated patent and trademark license agreements. His experience in patent prosecution extends to a variety of technologically diverse areas. He manages an international water and wastewater treatment practice that focuses on the preparation and prosecution of patent applications throughout the world on various areas of water and wastewater treatment.
Larry obtained his Bachelor of Science in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from North Carolina State University, and his Juris Doctor was earned from the University of North Carolina. Admitted to practice law in the State of North Carolina as well as in Pennsylvania, he is also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Association, North Carolina Bar Association, and Wake County Bar Association.
Job Titles:
- Legal Officer of the Year, Civil Air Patrol
Stephen Herrera brings substantial engineering experience to the preparation and prosecution of patent applications at Coats + Bennett, where he is a registered patent attorney. With the firm since 2001, Mr. Herrera specializes in the preparation of applications involving software and telecommunications systems, in addition to those in the mechanical arts.
With over 14 years of industry experience in software engineering and telecommunications, Mr. Herrera worked with the New Jersey State Police as a Communications Engineer on the statewide wireless communication system. Here he gained expertise in large scale wireless communications systems, and also designed and coded the Cellular 911 software presently used by the State of New Jersey. He worked on time-sensitive software applications implementing a 911 service in several large metropolitan areas as a software engineer with MCI, and oversaw the development of communications packages on the PacketIN and SS & Intelligent Networks with Lucent Technologies where he served as a technical lead.
Job Titles:
- Member of the NC State University Computer Science Alumni Hall of Fame
William G. Pagán is an award-winning patent attorney, a member of the NC State University Computer Science Alumni Hall of Fame, and an IBM Master Inventor named on over 130 U.S. patent applications. He graduated Summa Cum Laude (highest honors) and co-valedictorian from NCCU School of Law.