Gerald D. Hosier

Gerald D. Hosier is an American intellectual property (IP) attorney and a patent litigator. In 2000, Forbes magazine declared him the highest-paid lawyer in America, with an annual income of $40 Million.[1][2]

Early life

Hosier was born in Aspen, Colorado.

Education

Gerald Hosier received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and obtained his Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law. He is also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a registered patent attorney.

Career and clients

He has served as the main attorney for Jerome H. Lemelson, the named inventor on 741 US patents, and the self-proclaimed inventor of bar code scanning.[3] Although Lemelson died on October 1, 1997, Hosier continued to litigate to enforce Lemelson's patents on behalf of Lemelson's heirs, including the Lemelson Medical, Educational and Research Foundation (Lemelson Foundation). The American Lawyer reported his income for 2003 at $150 million.[4] Lemelson was a noted philanthropist,[5] Hosier was once known as a boastful and lavish spender.[6] but Hosier has set up a Hosier family foundation that makes many charitable contributions, such as being a major sponsor of the Aspen Institute. In 2004, the key Lemelson patents on bar code scanning were declared invalid for prosecution laches,[7] unduly delaying the patent application process so as to issue the patents long after the invention would have been thought to be public domain. This loss has reduced Hosier's income and influence. Hosier also currently on the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Michael Freedman, Plaintiff's Lawyers, http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0514/132.html
  2. ↑ Also mentioned in Teresa Riordan, Patents; As shown by recent cases argued in the courts, properly crediting an inventor can be murky business., The New York Times, February 2, 2004. Consulted on April 13, 2008.
  3. ↑ http://www.ropesgray.com/files/Publication/0a7ad1bd-23b8-4659-bfe5-a172b34a980d/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/2c66e5f3-c656-4244-aa26-21bcdc3d93c2/Breaking_the_Bar_Code.pdf''. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  4. ↑ WWeek.com http://wweek.com/editorial/3043/5461/
  5. ↑ http://www.lemelson.org/index.php
  6. ↑ WWeek.com report
  7. ↑ CAFC decision http://www.patenthawk.com/rulings/04-1451.pdf
  8. ↑ Aspen Institute http://www.aspeninstitute.org/people/gerald-hosier

External links