Richard P. Bauer

Richard P. Bauer is Co-Head of the Patents Practice. Mr. Bauer focuses on the areas of patent prosecution, validity/infringement opinions, intellectual property licensing and client counseling. He is very knowledgeable on electrical technologies such as integrated circuits, software, business methods, telecommunications networks, satellite communications, optical waveguides and RF systems. Mr. Bauer devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising clients on monetizing patent portfolios, including licensing, due diligence, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. To better represent the firm’s clients, he spends a good deal of time in the U.S. Patent Office (PTO), interviewing examiners, consulting with PTO management and facilitating prosecution of patent applications. Mr. Bauer’s PTO contacts enable him to solve many problems, including abandoned applications, lapsed patents and lost files. He has substantial experience in PTO Reexaminations, Reissues, Interferences, Protests, Public Use Proceedings and various petitions.

Mr. Bauer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1973 with a B.S. in engineering. After a tour of duty in the U.S. Army, he worked for a year as a mechanical engineer at Ingersoll-Rand in Houston, writing proposals for fluid handling equipment to be installed in refineries and nuclear power plants. For the next six years Mr. Bauer was an electrical engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company in Los Angeles, assigned as the systems engineer and the design engineer for the Radar Data Processor of the F-15 radar. During that time, Mr. Bauer earned his Private Pilot License.

Mr. Bauer attended Loyola of Los Angeles Law School at night, rising to first in his class. After two years he transferred to the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1984 at the top of his class. During his last two years of night law school, Mr. Bauer worked as a senior systems electrical engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company-Ground Systems Group and at E-Systems, in classified communications programs for the U.S. Government.

After graduating from law school, Mr. Bauer became an associate at Cushman, Darby, Cushman in Washington, D.C., focusing his practice on patent litigation and prosecution. He moved to Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in 1988, where he concentrated on Patent Office practice and client counseling, becoming a partner in the firm. Mr. Bauer joined Katten in January 2001.

A frequent lecturer on patent matters, Mr. Bauer speaks to organizations such as the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and numerous Canadian patent bar groups. He has lectured on the KSR-obviousness decision, the American Inventor’s Protection Act, the PTO’s new Bilski guidelines, the GATT legislation and implementing rules, the State Street Bank case, and PTO petitions and interviews. Mr. Bauer is an active member of the AIPLA and past chairman of the Internet Committee.

Mr. Bauer is an active leader in the Boy Scouts of America, and is an avid backpacker.