Overview
George C. Beck is a partner and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. His practice extends to all aspects of intellectual property law. He currently focuses his practice on patent counseling, procurement and post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Mr. Beck has prepared and prosecuted patent applications in a variety of technical areas, including consumer electronics, liquid crystal display technology, telecommunications, semiconductor devices and manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing test equipment, and business methods. He is a member of the firm’s Electronics Practice and Patent Office Trials Practice.
Mr. Beck has participated in patent and trade secret litigation matters in various district courts and the International Trade Commission. Representative experience includes the successful defense of a memory device manufacturer in ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-630, In the Matter of Certain Semiconductor Chips With Minimized Chip Package Size and Products Containing Same (III).
Mr. Beck has worked extensively on various reissue applications ex parte and inter partes reexamination matters, and inter partes review proceedings. Representative experience includes the successful challenge of all claims of three liquid chromatography patents in inter partes reexaminations 95/000,495, -496, and -497, and the Federal Circuit’s affirmance of the PTO’s decision in Scientific Plastic Products, Inc. v. Biotage AB, Appeal No. 2013-1219.
Mr. Beck served as a patent examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office from 1989 to 1990. In this capacity, he examined inventions utilizing photocells, including applications involving auto focus cameras, semiconductor devices with photosensitive components, photocopiers, and security systems.
Education
Mr. Beck is a graduate of Georgetown University (J.D., 1993; B.S., physics and government, magna cum laude, 1989). During law school, he served as the notes and comments editor of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. As an undergraduate, Mr. Beck was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu.
Recognition
In 2014, The Legal 500 recognized Mr. Beck for his work in the area of sports.
Affiliations and Admissions
Mr. Beck currently is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the American Bar Association, and the Society for Information Display. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and before the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and various U.S. district courts.