Nathan Sportel

Nathan P. Sportel’s practice touches on all areas of intellectual property law, including patent prosecution, patent litigation, and transactional IP matters. His practice represents a balance between patent prosecution and patent litigation.

On the patent prosecution side, Nathan drafts and prosecutes domestic and international patent applications for U.S. and foreign-based companies in electrical technologies. As a former Patent Examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Nathan possesses valuable insight into the internal procedures and practices of the USPTO.

He has drafted and prosecuted patents in a wide range of technologies including artificial intelligence, embedded circuits, cellular technology and telecommunications, mobile applications, hardware acceleration, plastics recycling, satellite technology, Internet of Things (IoT), security systems, medical benefit managers, medical devices, medical software, solar technology, automotive, cloud-based innovation, and virtualization.

He has counseled clients in protecting inventions internationally in countries such as China, Japan, the European Union, Great Britain, Mexico, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and India. Nathan also has experience prosecuting domestic trademarks. Finally, Nathan has counseled clients during appellate proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the USPTO.

In addition to his patent prosecution practice, Nathan balances his time supporting and assisting in intellectual property litigation matters. Nathan’s litigation experience is focused on producing work product for major patent litigation milestones, such as claim construction, invalidity and infringement contentions, and brief drafting. Nathan has also assisted in significant discovery projects to discover and assemble product-based invalidity positions.

Building on his litigation experience, Nathan has significant experience petitioning the PTAB for inter partes review (IPR) and conducting IPRs. As a quasi-litigation proceeding, Nathan has built on his experience being a patent lawyer and drafting invalidity contentions to be highly successful in petitioning the PTAB to institute IPR proceedings on challenged patents.

Nathan has also leveraged his experience as a patent examiner to efficiently search and find art that has been used successfully to institute IPR proceedings. Finally, Nathan has experience regarding intellectual property due diligence, patent valuation, and opinion work.

Education :

• J.D., Michigan State University College of Law
• B.S., Calvin College

Admissions :

• Illinois
• District of Columbia
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Professional Associations and Memberships :

• American Bar Association, ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law
• Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago