Covington & Burling LLP operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide, with the practice in England and Wales conducted by an affiliated
limited liability multinational partnership, Covington & Burling LLP, which is formed under the laws of the State of Delaware in the United States
and authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration number 77071..
Peter Chen is a senior counsel in Covington’s Palo Alto office specializing in intellectual property litigation, and is co-head of the firm’s Patent Office Trials group focusing on America Invents Act (AIA) trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Peter's experience as a former Lead Administrative Patent Judge at the PTAB enables him to provide strategic insights to both petitioners and patent owners, in high technology and life sciences arts, at institution and through final written decision.
Peter has led Covington teams in successfully representing petitioners in achieving institution, including on Fintiv analyses, and patent owners in achieving denials of institution. He has also led Covington teams representing petitioner clients who prevailed at final written decision with cancellation of all challenged claims, and patent owner clients who prevailed at final written decision with all challenged claims held patentable. He also regularly advises clients on PTAB strategy and policy issues.
During 2015-2017, Peter was a Lead APJ and as a member of PTAB’s management team, he assisted three successive Chief Judges in formulating and executing PTAB policy involving AIA trial procedures and Board operations. He also supervised a team of APJs, and assisted the Regional Director in policy and operations matters for the USPTO’s West Coast Regional Office.
Prior to his service at the PTAB, Peter was a first-chair intellectual property litigator and partner at three international law firms, and also served as general counsel and intellectual property counsel in-house, at startup and publicly traded technology companies in Silicon Valley. He has litigated over 75 patent cases, 25 trade secrets misappropriation cases, and numerous cases involving copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition, in federal and state courts and the International Trade Commission, for high technology and life sciences companies. As the only former Lead APJ in private practice with extensive in-house and law firm partner experience, he provides clients with a uniquely valuable perspective for winning AIA trials.
Peter’s pro bono practice at Covington has included representation of gun control organizations, domestic violence survivors, non-profit news organizations, military veterans and Green Card applicants.
Peter is a registered patent attorney and is a named co-inventor on two U.S. Patents Nos. 8,468,050 and 8,843,392.
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