A. John Pate, Pate Pierce & Baird, PCCurrent Practice
Background Since joining the legal profession Dr. Pate has assisted clients in procuring patent protection for high-technology materials, plastics manufacturing, electrical equipment, semiconductor processing, computer hardware design, artificial intelligence, heat/mass transport, mechanical systems, exercise and recreational equipment, deep earth drilling technology, environmental engineering equipment, chemical processing, and manufacturing processes and products. By relying on his extensive industrial experience and intellectual property experience Dr. Pate has provided strategic consultation to client companies, helping them develop intellectual property policies for building profit margins through intellectual property creation, management, and licensing. Before entering the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University Dr. Pate served as a Senior scientist with Morton-Thiokol, and spent a decade as a systems engineer and manager at the General Electric Company. In addition to obtaining patents for his employer during his industrial years he authored technical papers and reports in a broad variety of technologies. His background includes engineering design, analysis, manufacturing, and advanced development across diverse areas of electronics manufacturing, control systems, dynamic mechanical structures, ultra-high pressure fluid systems, combustion, propulsion, explosives, and electrical power technologies. During his years in industry Dr. Pate held government security clearances with which he contributed as a systems engineer and manager. He supervised or contributed to projects ranging through software development of engineering design and test applications; electronics manufacturing and packaging; strategic missile guidance and propulsion systems; cryogenic cooling; radar, sonar, and optical signature detection and creation; corrosion protection systems; precision aluminum casting design, manufacturing, and quality control; weapon systems engineering for mission areas including tactical ground, tactical and strategic air, and tactical and strategic sea systems; explosives; ordnance systems and delivery technologies; interior, exterior, and terminal ballistics; nuclear radiation protection; deep sea instrumentation delivery; high voltage power systems; lightning protection; plastics processing; flammability testing; high pressure (60kpsi) combustion; and forensic engineering consulting. During his graduate studies, Dr. Pate pursued research and study in numerical methods, engineering modeling and computer programming, process engineering, structural analysis, and energy systems. Dr. Pate speaks and writes Spanish. |
Much of Dr. Pate’s current practice is balanced between litigation and the writing and prosecuting of highly technological patents. However, he continues to apply his broad experience to all areas of intellectual property law. These areas include drafting and prosecuting patents directed to a wide range of manufacturing, software, and medical technologies, intellectual property licensing, and dispute resolution, including litigation as well as arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR).