Mr. Bahr is a Partner at Maier & Maier PLLC, where he specializes in all areas of patent practice. His expertise includes post-issuance proceedings at the United States Patent Office (USPTO), advising attorneys and our clients on complex patent prosecution matters, patent litigation strategy, and USPTO patent policy, practice and procedure. Mr. Bahr is an authority on patent laws, rules, and examining practice and procedure, for which he is highly sought after for expert testimony. Mr. Bahr’s expertise on USPTO patent policy, practice, and procedure covers varied subjects, including:
- Duty of candor and good faith (inequitable conduct)
- Patent term adjustment
- Subject matter eligibility
- Patent quality review processes and resolutions
- Petitions practice, including application filing dates, revival of abandoned applications, and acceptance of delayed priority claims and maintenance fees
- Prior art under first inventor to file
- Written description
- Restriction practice and double patenting
- Reexamination, supplemental examination, and reissue
- Pre-issuance prior art submissions
- Eighteen-month publication
- Statutory, including terminal, disclaimers
- Declaration/affidavit practice
- Certificates of correction
- Prosecution laches
Mr. Bahr previously served as the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy at the USPTO. During his distinguished career at the USPTO, Mr. Bahr was involved in nearly all patent-related rule-making since 1995. His involvement in patent rule-making includes the changes to implement the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 and the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Mr. Bahr has provided administrative oversight and direction for the activities of the Office of Petitions, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of Patent Quality Assurance, Central Reexamination Unit, and Manual of Patent Examining Procedure staff during his tenure at the USPTO.
In 1984, Mr. Bahr began his distinguished career at the USPTO as a Patent Examiner, and became a legal advisor in the Office of Patent Legal Administration in 1994. In 2000, Mr. Bahr was appointed as an Administrative Patent Judge before elevating to the Senior Patent Counsel to the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy. Mr. Bahr then served as the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy beginning March of 2016.
Mr. Bahr has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, and a Juris Doctor from George Washington University.
Awards and Recognition
Mr. Bahr has been awarded two Department of Commerce Gold Medals and two Department of Commerce Bronze Medals.
- Education
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland
- J.D., George Washington University
- Admission
- Virginia State Bar
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Membership
- American Intellectual Property Law Association