Robert Greenspoon - Innovation Gadfly

About Robert Greenspoon

Robert Greenspoon is not only the inventor of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,986,794 and 9,320,326 (now owned by BibBoards, Inc.)—which saved the recreational running world from the scourge of pinning race numbers with safety pins. He is also a registered patent attorney who concentrates his practice in the litigation, trial and appeal of patent and other complex cases. Rare among lawyers, Robert’s practice spans the entire breadth of patent acquisition and litigation. He works with inventors to file new patent applications, defend those inventions in all types of Patent Office proceedings (including PTAB challenges), try patent cases in the courts, argue for appellants and appellees in patent appeals at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and bring and defend patent proceedings in the United States Supreme Court. Robert argued the winning appeals in ADASA. v. Avery Dennison, 55 F.4th 900 (Fed. Cir. 2022); Zaxcom v. Lectrosonics (Fed. Cir. 2022) (App. Nos. 2020-1405, -1943, -1944); Tumey v. Mycroft AI, 27 F.4th 657 (8th Cir. 2022); 3M Company v. Evergreen Adhesives (Fed. Cir. 2021) (App. No. 20-1738); Opticurrent v. Power Integrations (Fed. Cir. 2020) (App. No. 19-2141); D’Agostino v. MasterCard Int’l, 844 F.3d 945 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Medtronic v. LifePort Sciences (Fed. Cir. 2016) (App. No. 15-1862); Computer Software Protection v. Adobe Systems (Fed. Cir. 2016) (App. No. 15-1608); Zayed v. Associated Bank, 779 F.3d 727 (8th Cir. 2015); 1st Media v. Electronic Arts, 694 F.3d 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2012); HyperPhrase v. Google (Fed. Cir. 2007) (App. No. 2007-1125); 1st Technology v. Bodog (Fed. Cir. 2008) (App. No. 2008-1132); and IMS Technology v. Haas Automation, 206 F.3d 1422 (Fed. Cir. 2000). Robert also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Brian Barnett Duff of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Robert authored or co-authored numerous articles for legal publications on patent policy and regularly contributes to the IPWatchdog blog to write on patent policy. According to a 2023 Report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Robert’s 2009 law review article triggered the recent “serious consideration [] given in the United States to the idea of a [patent] small claims court.”

As a nerdy kid, I used to read popular science magazines in the checkout line, waiting for my mom to finish buying groceries. It was the early 1980’s. I remember picking up the latest Psychology Today issue and flipping through it. I read a short blurb about a “morality” experiment. The details are fuzzy. But […]