A technical prodigy, Obi was a Technical Fellow for Boeing and served as Chief IP Counsel at Cardinal Health, a leading provider of product services and technologies for the health care industry. These qualifications give Obi a balanced approach to the practice of law that emphasizes efficiency. Here’s Obi’s story about how he ended up as a practicing patent attorney:
I entered the field of Intellectual Property law because Ihad this fascination for it even while I was studying for my Master’s Degree in electronics engineering. At that time I was working as an Avionics/Flight Control Systems engineer at Northrop Corporation. Later in my engineering career, I joined The Boeing Company and as I developed innovative systems for high performance military airplanes, wrote peer reviewed papers, and submitted these papers to the patent department for possible patenting, I received feedback that I felt required me to do the patent application drafting work for the IP folks.
At Boeing, I was a Technical Fellow where I was responsible for the design of the Flight Control System on the U.S. Air Force C-17 Cargo plane and other high technology programs thus I did not have time to also do the work for the patent attorneys. However, that experience made me understand the pressure engineers go through every day in trying to meet aggressive program schedules while trying to protect the company’s IP. Thus, as a patent attorney I’ve made it my goal not to overburden engineers and innovators with the patenting process while I seek to provide maximum protection for their inventions.
I have worked and led both industry (e.g. Medical Devices and Aerospace) and law firms as an IP attorney where I developed and executed processes for strategically managing all forms of Intellectual Property; identified and protected high value innovations that support the business objectives; and counseled on enforcement matters, transactional matters, mergers and acquisitions; and other IP related issues. I have successfully prosecuted patents in following areas: Business Methods, Process, Systems, Electrical, Software, Mechanical, Aerospace, Satellite Communications, Network Infrastructure, Animation, Telecommunications, Wireless, Computer Architecture, Semiconductor Processes, Analog and Digital Circuits and other arts.
Qualifications: Obi holds a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Western State University College of Law; a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla; a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Northrop University; and a second Master of Science degree in Electronics Engineering from Northrop University; and his. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California. He is a member of the California State Bar, the American Bar Association, and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.