The Patent Guy ^®
Patent & IP services for innovative individuals and  businesses 

Some blah, blah, blah about TPG
Denis O'Brien, PhD/Esq.

Home.   È   Contact Info

The Patent Guy is the registered commercial persona and alternate ego of Denis O'Brien.     

I have been a member of the Virginia State Bar and registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1998.  (USPTO registration # 42,947.) 

My PhD (University of Virginia,1980) and my post-doc (Havard Biolabs) were in the field of neurosciences, primarily neuropharmacology.  My bachelors is in biology (Ohio State University, 1974).

I am a member of the bars of the Virginia Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for Western Virginia.

Prior to turning to the study of law, I taught pharmacology and physiology at the New Zealand National School of Pharmacy.

Before becoming a patent attorney I prosecuted three patent applications pro se and obtained three patents, and so I have a first-hand understanding of many of the frustrations solo inventors face.  You can view the patents, and my latest patent application here.

I ran my own patent and law firm in Amherst, Virginia from 1998 until 2007, offering patent and trademark services to individuals and small businesses.  In 2007 I left solo practice and joined Cliff Vermette at Vermette & Co in Vancouver, British Columbia, a firm specializing in international patent protection.  

In April 2011 I returned to solo practice, still in British Columbia where I specialize in US practice and continue to enjoy working with small-entity inventors and their unique problems.