Richard Bone
Attorney
Location / Bay Area
Phone / (650) 419-2010
Email /
Admissions /
State Bar of California
Bar of District of Columbia
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Richard Bone is a Partner at VLP. His practice encompasses all aspects of patent preparation and prosecution, and post-grant review, in fields such as pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology, materials, nanotechnology, medical devices, and computer science. He has a particular focus on inter-disciplinary technologies. His practice includes client counseling in worldwide patent portfolio strategy and management, and offering opinions in patent invalidity, non-infringement, and freedom to operate opinions.
Dr. Bone received both a B.A. in Natural Sciences (First Class Honours) and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, UK, before spending a number of years in industry in the U.S. and the U.K. developing software for computer-aided molecular design. Dr. Bone's legal career started at the IP Boutique, Pennie & Edmonds LLP, where he was a law clerk while attending Santa Clara University School of Law part-time. Prior to joining VLP, Dr. Bone was a Principal in the Silicon Valley office of Fish & Richardson P.C.
Dr. Bone was named a Northern California "Rising Star" in Super-Lawyers magazine for 2009 and 2010. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modeling, and a member of the American Chemical Society, American Bar Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Dr. Bone has also been a faculty member of Patent Resources Group (PRG) and has been a contributing author of the PRG treatise for Patent Advanced Patent Law Course, "Biotechnology: Patent Prosecution, Licensing, Litigation, And Hatch-Waxman" (2007-2008).
As a scientist, Dr. Bone authored and/or contributed to more than 20 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has also published and presented at numerous forums in current areas of patent law. Dr. Bone is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar, and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Selected publications:
"Markush under threat: US PTO considers alternatives", with J. T. Kendall, Industrial Biotechnology 4(3), 246-251, (2008).
"The USPTO's attempt to streamline patent examination: Much ado about nothing?" with L. F. Rosznyai, Industrial Biotechnology 3(4), 319-324, (2007).
"Beyond KSR v. Teleflex: How the courts and USPTO have decided biotechnology and chemistry cases," with M. A. Parsons, G. L. Temeles, and J. P. Fasse, Industrial Biotechnology 3(3), 198-202, (2007)
"Identifying and Analysing Intermolecular Bonding Interactions in van der Waals Molecules," with R. F. W. Bader, J. Phys. Chem., 100, 10892 (1996).
"Generalising the Molecular Symmetry Group of Longuet-Higgins to Asymmetric Tunneling Problems," Structure and Dynamics of Non-Rigid Molecular Systems, p. 67, Ed. Y. G. Smeyers, Kluwer (1994). "Deducing the Symmetry Operations Generated at a Transition State," Chem. Phys. Lett., 193, 557 (1992).
"Stationary points on the potential energy surfaces of (SO2)2 and (SO2)3," with C. R. LeSueur, R. D. Amos, and A. J. Stone, J. Chem. Phys., 96, 8390 (1992) "Half-Projected Hartree Fock Natural Orbitals for Defining CAS-SCF Active Spaces", with P. Pulay, Int. J. Quant. Chem., 45, 133 (1992).
"Transition States from Molecular Symmetry Groups: Analysis of Non-rigid Acetylene Trimer," with T. W. Rowlands, N. C. Handy and A. J. Stone, Mol. Phys., 72, 33 (1991).
"Ab Initio Studies of Acetylene Tetramer and Pentamer," with R. D. Amos and N. C. Handy, J. Chem. Soc. Far. Trans., 86, 1931 (1990).