Wayne Edward Ramage, shareholder in the Nashville, Tenn., office of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC and chairman of the firm's intellectual property group, concentrates his practice in the areas of patent and intellectual property law and litigation, including the protection and management of intellectual property asset portfolios.
A cum laude graduate of Harvard University with a degree in geological sciences, he received his master's degree in engineering from Stanford University. Before attending Vanderbilt School of Law, he worked as a petroleum engineer with Shell Offshore Inc., where he designed and programmed the strategic planning program for calculating the comparative economics and production of all oil and gas reserves for all divisions of the company.
Q: What is the most challenging case you've worked on, and why?
A: I took over the defense of a patent infringement matter at the conclusion of discovery. Very contentious at all turns... we spent hours arguing about the meaning of the word “on” in the Markman hearing.
I also took over prosecution of a related patent application for the client at the same time. My client’s patent application had an earlier priority date than the plaintiffs’ patent-in-suit, which was for the exact same invention and had been filed several months later by a company in which some former employees of my client had an interest.
It allowed for some interesting multiple-front strategy, as I was able to get my client a patent while the litigation was pending. Unfortunately, it was one of those disputes where personal rancor and animosity colors the entire litigation, and made settlement extremely difficult.
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