Christopher D. Agnew, Esq.

Practice Summary.

Mr. Agnew is a Partner at Klintworth and Rozenblat IP. Mr. Agnew has over twenty years of experience in the intellectual property field.

In recent years, Mr. Agnew’s intellectual property practice has primarily focused on international prosecution and portfolio management of patent applications in the high-tech areas of electrical engineering and software. Mr. Agnew provides strategic counseling on claim drafting and scope of protection, touching on all areas of patent prosecution.

Mr. Agnew has filed and/or prosecuted hundreds of patent applications in a broad range of technologies, including electrical, electronics, computing, hardware, software, physics, optics, video streaming, medical devices, mechanical, internet applications, financial and mathematical algorithms, and business methods.

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Regarding private law firm experience, prior to joining Klintworth and Rozenblat IP, Mr. Agnew was a Partner with the law firm Invention Mine LLC. in Chicago, Illinois, providing strategic advice to clients, preparing and prosecuting patent applications, and mentoring and supervising patent professionals on patent preparation and prosecution.  Mr. Agnew was a Partner at Choate Hall & Stewart in Boston where he led the electrical engineering and software patent prosecution practice group, representing numerous pre-IPO and start up clients for the corporate practice in IP issues including patent prosecution and IP counseling (including due diligence, freedom to operate, patent opinion, and clearance advice) and litigation support (including management of a team in cooperation with joint defendants on invalidity contentions and arguments).   Mr. Agnew was an Associate Attorney at the national IP boutique Fish & Richardson P.C. in Boston, where he worked on both patent prosecution and patent litigation matters, including successful representation of clients in patent litigation in U.S. district court and in appellate work before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before law school, Mr. Agnew worked for years as a Registered Patent Agent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office handling complex patent prosecution at the general practice firm Pillsbury Winthrop in Palo Alto, California and at the Chicago, Illinois IP boutiques Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione and McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff.

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Mr. Agnew has significant in-house experience as well.  Mr. Agnew was U.S. based Global Head of Intellectual Property for a Hong Kong-based investment holdings company with 20,000 workers worldwide.  Prior to that, Mr. Agnew spent four years in Northern California as Chief IP and Patent Counsel (and Registered In-House Counsel) for a private venture-backed software company with 4,000 employees and then approaching $1 billion in revenue with R&D centers and operations worldwide.  Mr. Agnew oversaw and was responsible for all aspects of worldwide IP for the company.  Prior to that, Mr. Agnew also served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for a financial services company, preparing and prosecuting patent applications and interviewing cases with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Representative Patent Prosecution Experience.

Mr. Agnew represents or has represented a wide variety of clients throughout his career, ranging from large institutional clients such as Fortune 500 companies with sizable patent portfolios, to universities, start-up companies and individuals. Some example representations include: 

■ Represents a public technology research and development company having a sizable international patent portfolio in the areas of wireless and video technologies.  Representation includes preparation and prosecution of patent applications and strategic IP advice in varying technologies including multimedia audio/video streaming and processing, augmented reality/mixed reality/virtual reality (AR/MR/XR/VR) and associate hardware and/or software.

■ Represented a fabless semiconductor company in the area of extreme low power wireless communications and architecture. Representation included preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

■ Represented an insurance and financial company. Representation included strategic IP advice and patent prosecution.

■ Represented a software company in telecommunications and contact center applications and networking.  Representation included patent portfolio management and all aspects of patents and IP.

■ Represented a financial services company in business method, trading, and wireless gaming software technologies.  Representation included strategic counseling and preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

■ Represented a wireless network solutions provider in the area of cellular access points in mobile broadband information networks.  Representation included preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

■ Represented a developer of rechargeable hydrogen fuel cell systems in preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

■ Represented an automatic test equipment designer and manufacturer in preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

■ Represented a network communications company in the area of antennas and wireless chipsets.  Representation included preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

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■ Represented a semiconductor manufacturing process company in the area of chemical mechanical polishing.  Representation included preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

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■ Represented a multinational semiconductor company in the area of flash memories and electronic circuits.  Representation included preparation and prosecution of patent applications.

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■ Represented a University Professor in independent patent preparation in the area of photonics and quantum physics as applied to logic transistors.