Robert Houston
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Registration No. 72,668
Robert Houston owns the Robert Houston Law Firm and is a registered U.S. Patent Attorney. His law firm specializes in matters related to Intellectual Property Law and the focus of his practice is on the preparation and prosecution of patents and trademarks, and the licensing of intellectual property (patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets). Robert is a member of the State Bar of Massachusetts and registered to practice law in patent and trademark matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Robert received his J.D. from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Franklin Pierce School of Law, formally known as the Franklin Pierce Law Center, in Concord, New Hampshire. UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law is an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school consistently ranked in the top ten law schools for Intellectual Property (IP). He holds a master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Honors from Loughborough University of Technology, in Leicestershire, United Kingdom.
Robert has worked as Intellectual Property Inside Counsel at start-ups in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and as a Patent Prosecution Attorney at various law firms, including Biglaw firms in Boston, Massachusetts and Dallas, Texas. At these firms Robert was responsible for invention harvesting, patentability, and the drafting, prosecution, and management of domestic, national, and Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT) applications. He performed IP competitor research, infringement and validity analysis, and provided guidance and training on a variety of patent and IP-related issues to both employees and senior executives at these firms. He also collaborated with outside domestic patent counsel and foreign associates on patent filings and portfolio strategy.
Robert has performed these services for clients in a variety of technologies including: The telecommunication industry, where he prosecuted patents pertaining to 5G wireless networks and mobile devices, for telecom clients like Samsung; the Oil and gas industry, where he prosecuted patents pertaining to wireline and marine exploration, formation analysis, and oil, water, gas extraction and separation, for oil and gas clients like Schlumberger and WesternGeco; the smart energy sector, where he prosecuted patents pertaining to electric machines, including Induction electric machines, Linear electric machines, Switched Reluctance electric machines, Reluctance Synchronous electric machines, Synchronous Permanent Magnet electric machines, Adaptive Electric Transmissions, Methods of Manufacture, and Methods of Cooling, and variants of, including Multi-rotor, Field Weakening, and Halbach Arrays, for startups like Linear Labs; the renewable energy industry, where he prosecuted patents pertaining to semiconductor photovoltaic devices and fabrication; and the advance medical devices industry, where he prosecuted patents pertaining to wound healing, including negative pressure wound therapy, and those related to advanced diagnostic imaging including those related to opto-acoustic interleaved with ultrasound, for companies like KCI USA. He has also prepared and prosecuted patents for numerous other technologies, including those related to semiconductor memory design, consumer marine devices, large scale file management architectures, for clients like EMC, virtual reality devices and personal assistants for clients like IBM and Samsung, the automotive industry, consumer and commercial electronic devices, and many more.
Prior to his legal career Robert worked as a senior electrical engineer / hardware team leader in various industry sectors for nearly 12 years, including 4 years in the oil and gas industry in both the Middle East and Europe, and 5 years in the wireless telecommunications industry in Europe with Nokia Mobile Phones. After this he worked for 9 years in the U.S. as Nokia’s Intellectual Property Licensing Manager for Nokia’s 4G wireless technology. In this later position he had sole responsibility for acquiring new licensees and negotiating, reviewing, closing, and drafting both domestic and international license agreements. He has also worked as a technical consultant for several renewable energy technologies including, microturbines, photovoltaic arrays, and wind turbines.
Robert is married to Michelle Houston, and they have three children, Camille, Scott, and Rachel. He enjoys playing World of Tank on the Sony PlayStation®, mystery shows, and searching for bargains at the local Recycled Book Store.
