2023 speakers

James Carmichael is the Founder and Managing Partner for Carmichael IP, PLLC, and a former Administrative Patent Judge on the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (now the Patent Trial and Appeal Board). Jim was employed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for eight years, including working in the electrical and computer division of the Board as an Examiner-in-Chief. Currently, he represents inventors and patent challengers before the PTO in patent prosecution and inter partes review proceedings.  Jim regularly serves as an expert witness on PTO prosecution and post-grant procedures.

Before becoming a Judge, Jim served for five years as an Associate Solicitor of the PTO.  In that capacity, he represented the agency in federal court litigation and argued more than thirty cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The cases Jim handled included patentability and reexamination. He was also Coordinator of attorney discipline proceedings. Jim helped develop PTO procedures relating to the duty of disclosure as well as post-grant proceedings.

Jim graduated from Yale University in 1984, and from University of Wisconsin Law School in 1987 with honors. During law school, he served as an Associate Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review.

Jim is a registered patent attorney and admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., and California.