Dawn-Marie Bey has more than two decades of intellectual property (IP) experience and clients ranging from one-person start-ups to Fortune 100 public companies. She counsels clients on a range of IP issues including U.S. and foreign patent prosecution strategies, patent enforcement and infringement defense, IP licensing, IP due diligence and IP ownership in view of government funding (e.g., Bayh-Dole Act, FAR, DFAR). She has particular expertise with proceedings conducted before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, including ex parte and inter partes reviews.

Dawn-Marie began her technical career conducting experiments in the field of plasma physics at the Naval Research Laboratory. She spent four years as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examining patent applications in the electrical and optical arts and is registered to practice before the USPTO. Prior to founding Bey & Cotropia PLLC, Dawn-Marie was with large international law firms for 14 years, most recently as a partner with an Am Law 50 firm. Ms. Bey has authored and co-authored papers in both the legal and technical fields. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer and Best Lawyers in America in the area of patent law since 2014.

Dawn-Marie attended George Mason University School of Law, where she graduated with a recognized concentration in intellectual property law, completing individual courses in all areas of intellectual property including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and specialized courses in patent licensing, patent damages, patent prosecution, patent litigation, interferences, unfair trade practices and international protection of intellectual property.

In addition to her law practice, Ms. Bey also founded and is the Director of the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Period Patch, Inc. which has been dedicated to helping provide menstrual hygiene products to unsheltered and displaced menstruating humans in the Richmond and surrounding areas since 2015.

Education

• J.D., George Mason University
• B.S., Physics, Franklin and Marshall College

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Virginia

Memberships

• American Bar Association (ABA)
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
• Federal Circuit Bar Association (Currently co-chair of the Diversity Committee)

Publications and Presentations

• Chapter 30 – USA in “The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Patents 2013,” (September 2012, Global Legal Group, Ltd.)(co-author)
• Patent Reform – The Fuss About First-To-File, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel(June 2011)
• 5th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute: Panel on “Patentable Subject Matter and Practice Strategies in the Shadow of Bilski” (January 2010; Moderator)
• Book Chapter in “The Impact of Bilski on Business Method Patents Leading Lawyers on Navigating Procedural Changes, Forming New Patent Filing Strategies, and Forecasting Future Developments: Responses to Bilski: Rejections, Suggestions and Follow-On Case Law,” (August 2009, Aspatore Books, a Thomson Business)
• Unreasonableness of the Patent Office’s “Broadest Reasonable Interpretation” Standard, AIPLA Quarterly Journal (Vol. 37, Number 3 (Summer 2009) (co-author)
• Quanta v. LG Electronics: Further Restrictions on Patent Rights; but not an Exhaustion Windfall, Landslide (Vol. 1, No. 1 – Sept./Oct. 2008)
• Authority and Issues to Consider Prior to Entering into Funding Agreements with the Federal Government, Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal (April 2006)
• There’s No Free Lunch: Before Accepting Government Funding To Help Develop Or Build A Security Product, Companies Must Understand How It Could Alter Their Intellectual Property Rights To The Product, Security Management Magazine (June 2005)
• Shifting the Burden of Proving Patentability Vel Non In View of Dickinson v. Zurko,Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Fall 2004)
• Supreme Court Rules on Key Patent Infringement Doctrine, Washington Legal Foundation, Vol. 17, No. 26 (2002)
• Time-resolved Measurements of X-ray Damage to Optical Coatings, J. APP. PHYS., Vol. 81, No. 3 (1997) (co-author)
• Spectroscopic Diagnostics in a Colliding Blast-wave Experiment, PHY. REV. E., Vol. 49, No. 2 (1994) (co-author)
• Soft X-ray Output from a Laser-produced Plasma, J. QUANT. SPEC. and RAD. TRANS., Vol. 51, No. 1-2 (1994) (co-author)
• X-ray Damage to Optical Components Using Laser-plasma Source, J. APP. PHYS., Vol. 74, No. 9 (1993) (co-author)

Bey & Cotropia PLLC

We have substantial and varied patent prosecution experience across numerous technical fields including emerging technologies. We estimate that firm members have worked with more than 750 inventors and prosecuted thousands of patent applications. We prepare, file, prosecute and maintain patent applications both in the US and in non-US jurisdictions (with assistance from foreign counsel). We can assist with foreign-originated U.S. application filings and prosecution. We handle complex post-grant proceedings, including those involving patents asserted in parallel litigation proceedings. Our members have argued multiple cases before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to individual inventors.

Representative industries we counsel:

• Defense & Basic Research
• Energy (O & G, Solar, Utilities)
• Biomedical
• Healthcare
• Mobile Applications
• Computer & Console Gaming
• Financial
• Integrated Circuits
• Computer Architecture

Representative technology areas include:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Software, Computer Architecture & Security, Business Methods
• Cloud Computing & Storage
• Radiation Detection & Imaging
• Chemical & Bio Sensors/Detectors
• Optical Devices (Modulators, Displays, Detectors, Lasers)
• Materials (Semiconductors, Liquid Crystal, Plasma, Coatings)
• Mobile Networks & Applications
• Biomedical Devices
• Solar Panels & Related Devices
• Gaming Equipment
• Drilling & Fracturing Technology
• Nanotechnology
• Smart Grids
• Computer Architecture VLSI design
• Microarchitecture
• Solid state electronics
• Distributed Systems
• Wireless & Digital Communications
• Integrated Circuits
• Software engineering & Design
• Operating Systems
• Digital Rights Management