Theodore A. Wood
Ted Wood is a patent attorney with a unique confluence of over 40 years of electrical, electro-mechanical, communications, software, and computer security related technical, legal, military, and business development experience. He uses this experience to help companies protect and leverage their innovations and ensure marketplace exclusivity.
Ted’s work before the United States Patent and Trademark Office includes patent application preparation and prosecution, inter partes review (IPR), reexamination, and appeals before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He has also served as virtual in-house IP counsel for several high technology emerging companies, where he developed programs to identify, protect, manage, and commercialize IP assets. Additionally, he has helped establish post-grant strategies to challenge the validity of existing patents.
Ted has worked on IP matters involving a variety of technologies. More recently, his work has focused on software related technologies and issues involving patentability of computer software created by the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014). Other representative technologies include industrial control system cybersecurity, computer graphics and image analysis, microprocessors, additive manufacturing, biometric authentication, blockchain, cryptography, wireless communication, high-speed mobile connectivity, the Internet of Things (IOT), GPS location-based services, medical devices, vehicle systems, and many others.
Ted has worked as a patent attorney at several Washington D.C. law firms, including Sterne Kessler Goldstein and Fox where Ted was a partner, and Pillsbury Winthrop. Prior to that, while in law school, he was a law clerk with the NCR Corporation in the IP Law Section, where he prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent applications.
Ted is a service-disabled veteran, having retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Air Force (USAF), where he served honorably for over 23 years. More recently, he was honored as one of a hand full of veterans featured in Law360, recognizing attorney’s military memories and service.
As an active duty officer, Ted and his teams developed threat signal detection algorithms for aircraft electronic combat, leveraging use of electronic intelligence (ELINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) data. These algorithms were used in some of the USAF’s most advanced combat aircraft and flight test programs. During other phases of his military career, Ted was responsible for development of satellite communication subsystems and testing & enhancement of low observable technologies.
Recognized for his Smart Grid contributions, Ted was named to the CleanTech 100, a list of the industry’s top 100 cleantech attorneys. The list was published from the LMG Clean Technology & Renewable Energy 2013.
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EDUCATION
University of Dayton
- J.D., CALI Excellence Award for Highest Grade in Patent Prosecution 1998
Northrop University
- M.S., Electrical Engineering 1984
North Carolina A&T State University
- B.S., Electrical Engineering 1981
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ADMISSIONS
- District of Columbia
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
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PRESENTATIONS
- Webinar: From Alice to Berkheimer: Practical Tips for Preparing Software Patent Applications, Presented by Wood IP and Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery, June 27, 2018
- CyberSecurity and the Electric Grid: Innovation & Intellectual Property, IEEE International Symposium on Circuits & Systems, May 30, 2017
- College Awareness and Planning for Careers in STEM, Developing a Dream Team: Mentoring for College Success, April 29, 2017
- Cyber Security Patent Behavior Nexus of Licensing & Information Sharing
LES Annual Meeting 2016, October 2016
- Developing World Class Portfolios
General Electric Corporation Oil & Gas Global Meeting Presentation, April 2016 - Patenting Tomorrow’s Data Security Technology: Navigating the PTO in a Post-Alice Environment
25th Annual Program in Law and Technology Seminar, University of Dayton School of Law, June 2015 - Contractual Protections for Dealing with Cyber Attacks
Law Seminars International, March 2014 - Greening your Campus and Curriculum, 3rd Symposium on Sustainable Environmental Practices at Colleges and Universities in the Southeast
North Carolina A&T State University, Intellectual Property Protection & Commercialization in an Academic Setting, September 13, 2012 - Developing an Ecosystem for Grid Security and Resiliency
Panel Moderator and Sponsor, Tech Council of Maryland Grid Forum, February 2013 - Advanced Patent Issues and Accelerated Examination,The Global Fellows Series — Bridging the IP Gap Between the US and Europe (Washington, DC Program), Federal Circuit Bar Association Global Fellows Conference, September 11, 2012
- Top Cyber Security Experts Meet for Smart Grid Security Summit
August 9, 2012 - Tapping the Patent System for Innovation in Cyber Security (Podcast), Science Progress.Org, August 6, 2012
- North Carolina A&T University’s Research Excellence Award’s Day, Keynote Speaker
April 18, 2012 - An Intellectual Property Overview
Tuskegee University Tech Transfer Department, April 23, 2012 - World Events Transforming Energy Business and Policy, Innovation & Technology in Energy, 2011 Georgetown Energy and Cleantech Conference,
Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business, September 2, 2011, - Innovation Bootcamp, Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Research Center, North Carolina State University
April 29, 2011 Webinar - PTO Pilot Program Proposal for the Electric Grid to USPTO Director David Kappos
United States Patent & Trademark Office, February 7, 2011 - North Carolina A&T State University Freshman Engineering Student Colloquium,
March 25, 2010 - Monetization of Intellectual Property
National Bar Association Commercial Law Section Corporate Counsel Conference, February 2010
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PUBLICATIONS
- Tapping the Patent System for Innovation in Cyber Security
- How Intellectual Property can Help Solve the Nation’s Electrical Grid Security Problems
- Smart grid vulnerabilities: Innovation key to protecting against cyber attack
- Top Cyber Security Experts Meet for Smart Grid Security Summit
- Securing the Intellectual Property of Smart Grid Security
- Innovation → IP Protection → Investment → A Safer, Smarter Grid
- Innovating to Secure the Grid
- Cyber Wars Start, is the Power Grid Next?
- Cyber Security, Intellectual Property, and New Cyberspace Threats
- Why Continue to Invest in Patents
- Is Your Career on Track?
- U.S. Supreme Court Urges a Less Rigid Approach in Assessing the Obviousness of Inventions
- The Written Description Requirement
- Launching Patent Licensing