RICHARD “DICK” APLEY is a Patent Agent in the Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering Department. Mr. Apley focuses his practice in handling patent prosecution matters, particularly applications participating in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) “Interview Before First Action” program.

Prior to joining Nath, Goldberg & Meyer, Mr. Apley was the Chief Patent Officer of Litman Law Offices (LLO), an Intellectual Property group of an international law firm.  Mr. Apley was responsible for LLO’s training on patent practice and procedures and supervising patent practitioners and staff.

Before joining LLO, Mr. Apley served more than three decades at the USPTO rising to the position of Director of the Office of Independent Inventor Programs.  Mr. Apley served as a Supervisory Patent Examiner of art units in mechanical and chemical engineering, computer controlled teaching apparatus and simulators, and biomedical and surgical devices and methods. Additionally, Mr. Apley instructed new patent examiners in their initial 3-week training and was responsible for rewriting, designing, and updating various training manuals used by the examiners and their instructors.

Mr. Apley also represented the USPTO in the media, served on the Board of Directors of the National Inventor Hall of Fame and on the Consumer Protection Initiatives Committee, and was part of the United States Attorney General’s Council on White Collar Crime.

Mr. Apley received a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Baltimore and a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Mr. Apley is registered to practice before the USPTO.

Mr. Apley co-authored the following publications:

• Business Method and Software Patents – A Practical Guide. Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Oxford University Press, USA, 2012
• “Exhausted By Patent Exhaustion”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 6, 26-28 (2008)
• “Zeroing In On Design”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 3, 39 (2008)
• “One Small Step Towards Patent Harmonization: KSR and the EPO”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 1, 34-35 (2008).