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Gary V. Harkcom is a former Acting Chief Administrative Patent Judge and Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  As Acting Chief Judge and Vice Chief Judge, he supervised 120 personnel, including the direct supervision of 70 Administrative Patent Judges.  During his tenure, the Board was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for innovative management procedures that reduced the pendency of patent appeals from 39 months to less than 6 months.  Judge Harkcom was also selected as a member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES).  Judge Harkcom is a Registered Professional Engineer, and a former officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Notable

  • Represents Reexamination parties both in filing in filing ex parte and inter partes reexamination requests requesting invalidity of patents and in defending patents in reexamination.
  • Selected to U.S. Senior Executive Service
  • Acting Chief Judge and Vice Chief Judge of Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that received the U.S.  Department of Commerce Gold Medal for sustained outstanding service – 2005.
  • Norman P. Morgenstern Award for the most outstanding USPTO Supervisory Patent Examiner – 1994.
  • U.S. Air Force Meritorious Service Medal.
  • U.S. Air Force Commendation Medal

Experience

  • Patent Attorney – Greenblum and Bernstein, P.L.C. – 2008-Present
  • USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences – Acting Chief Judge – 2003-2005
  • USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences – Vice Chief Judge – 1995-2008
  • USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences – Electrical Administrative Patent Judge – 1994-1995
  • USPTO Supervisory Patent Examiner – 1987-1994 (computer technologies)
  • USPTO Patent Examiner – 1981-1987 (computer technologies)
  • U.S. Air Force Electrical Engineering Officer – 1971-1980

Offices/Professional Activities

  • Served on numerous USPTO Executive Committees, including the USPTO Quality Council and the USPTO
  • Executive Nationwide Workforce Planning Committee
  • Intellectual Property Owner’s – Patent Office Practice Committee
  • Lectured at numerous meetings of professional organizations and bar associations

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Registered Professional Electrical Engineer – Pennsylvania
  • Intellectual Property Owners Association
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • American Bar Association
  • PTAB Bar Association