Richard S. Stockton

Richard’s areas of interest include:

• Multilateral IP rights protection and enforcement
• International IP issues, including extraterritoriality of US IP rights and remedies
• Design patents, trade dress and copyrights, including ornamentality, functionality and useful article defenses
• Historical antecedents of modern US IP law, including law and equity jurisprudence

Richard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI). He then graduated from the UI College of Law cum laude, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of The University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy, the Legislation Editor of the Illinois Law Update section of The Illinois Bar Journal and a founder of Modern Trends in Intellectual Property. 

Bar Activities

• American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA)
  • Financial Officer, 2024-present
  • Financial Officer-Elect and Council Member, 2023-present
  • Patents Division, Vice Chair, 2021-23
  • Standing International IP Task Force, Chair, 2021-23, Vice Chair, 2019-21
  • Patent Systems Policy Committee, Vice Chair, 2019-21
  • IP Section Leadership Award, 2019
  • Patent Litigation Committee, Chair, 2017-19, Vice-Chair 2013-17
  • Technology for the Litigator Committee (ABA Section of Litigation), Co-Chair, 2010-13, Newsletter Editor-in-Chief, 2006-10
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
  • Amicus Committee, 2020-present
  • Nominations Committee, 2022
  • International and Foreign Laws Committee, Co-Chair, 2018-20
  • Industrial Designs Committee, Chair, 2016-18, Vice-Chair, 2014-16
• International Trademark Association (INTA)
  • Designs Committee
    • Chair, Designs Education and Resources Subcommittee, 2023-present
    • Member, Design Resources Review Subcommittee, 2022-23
    • Member, Trade Dress Task Force, 2022-23
  • Representative, Riyadh Diplomatic Conference to Conclude and Adopt a Design Law Treaty, Nov. 2024 (forthcoming)
  • High Performing Committee Member, 2023
  • Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Committee
    • National Chair, 2016-17, National Vice-Chair and Bench Memo Committee Chair, 2015-16, Project Team Member, 2013-present
    • Chicago Regional Competition Chair, 2013-15, Vice-Chair, 2011-13, Committee Member, 2006-present, Bailiff, 2000-06
    • Oral Argument Judge, Asia-Pacific Moot Court Competition (Singapore), 2019
• Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)
  • Industrial Designs Committee, Member, 2013-present
• ICANN IP Constituency, Banner Witcoff Primary Representative, 2016-19
• Member: ABA, AIPLA, INTA, IPO, Illinois State Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago

Teaching Activities

• Adjunct Professor, IP Litigation Pretrial Skills
  • Northwestern University (NU) School of Law, LITARB 614A, 2012-18, 2020-21, 2023-present
  • Georgetown University Law Center, LAWJ-293-07, 2004-11
• Guest Lecturer, Fundamentals of Legal Practice, UI College of Law, 2015-16, 2018-19
• Class Panelist: NU School of Law, UI College of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, University of Michigan

Exemplary Presentations and Panels

• “Design Patent Titles,” Banner Witcoff-Sterne Kessler Design Symposium, 2024 (Panelist) (forthcoming)
•  “Trade Dress Rehearsal: Strategies to Perfect Your Trade Dress Practice,” Alt Legal Webinar, 2024 (Presenter)
•  “The Design Law Treaty: Continued Steps Toward Harmonized Industrial Design Protection Worldwide,” USPTO Design Day, 2024 (Presenter and Moderator)
• “AI and Patents,” International Housewares Association CORE Group, 2024 (Presenter)
•  “ACT CLR: A Hetronic Mnemonic for Extraterritoriality and Trademark Remedies,” Chicago Bar Association, 2023 (Presenter)
• “Novelty Test Assessment for Industrial Designs – Case Study,” Uganda IPO (URSB), 2023 (Presenter)
•  “The Shot Heard ‘Round the Design World—and It’s Still Ricocheting: Curver, SurgiSil and now Columbia,” Banner Witcoff-Sterne Kessler Design Symposium, 2022 (Presenter)
• "Design Patent Claims Amendment, Reissue, Validity Challenges: Recent Court Treatment and USPTO Guidance," Strafford Webinar, 2021 (Panelist)
•  “Emerging IP Abroad: Approaches to Protecting Computer Functionality and Designs Outside the United States,” AIPLA Virtual Spring Meeting, 2020 (Moderator)
•  “Industrial Design Rights: Global Themes Distilled from Experiences in the United States,” IP Office of Singapore, 2019 (Presenter)
•  “Enforcing Designs Under US Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Law” and “Apple v. Samsung: A Case Study,” IP Protection for Industrial Designs:  An International Perspective, USPTO Global IP Academy, 2018 (Presenter)
•  “Perspectives on IP Brinkmanship Between the United States and China in the Current Global Trade Environment,” ABA Annual Meeting, 2018 (Moderator)
•  “Introduction to Design Litigation,” AIPLA Design Rights Boot Camp, 2018 (Presenter)
•  “Defending Design Patent Litigations: If Something’s Amiss, Move to Dismiss,” Design Day, 2017 (Presenter)
•  “The Wide World of Designs: Best Practices for the Procurement of Design Patents Across Borders and in the United States,” AIPLA Mid-Winter Institute, 2016 (Moderator)
•  “Roundtable Event on the Written Description Requirement for Design Applications,” USPTO, 2014 (Public Speaker)
•  “Design and Utility Patents, Trade Dress, and Copyright: How to Prosecute and Enforce Multiple Layers of IP Protection,” IPO Chat Channel, 2013 (Presenter)
• “Design Patent Functionality After Egyptian Goddess and Richardson: The Assumption of Claim Construction Dysfunction and Gumption,” AIPLA Spring Meeting, 2013 (Panelist)
• “Owens Poems and High Point Haikus,” Industrial Design Committee Meeting at AIPLA Annual Meeting, 2013 (Presenter)
•  “Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” Northwestern School of Law, 2013 (Panelist)
• “Shall I Complain or Abstain about a Domain,” Banner & Witcoff Corporate IP Seminar, 2012 (Presenter)
• New gTLD Overview, gTLD Opposition Overview, American Marketing Association Podcasts, 2011, 2012 (Host)
•  “Designs in Recent Court Decisions,” Design Day, USPTO, 2010 (Panelist)

Exemplary Publications

• “Leveraging Amended Patent Law to Protect Design in China,” Law360 Expert Analysis, 2020
• “Hague Weighed: Should I Change My Design Filing Strategy?,” Inside Counsel, 2015
• “The Written Description Requirement in U.S. Design Patent Prosecution: Background and Recent Developments,” AIPLA Roundtable, 2014
• “Turkey Shoot: How Sam Keller’s Spat May Flower into a Multi-Billion Dollar War Against the NCAA and College Amateurism,” Intellectual Property Today, 2013
• “A Hague Accolade: U.S. Poised to Join an International Design Protection System,” IP Frontline and IP Law360, 2012-13
• “Grappling with Keywords in the Fourth Circuit,” IP Law360, 2011
• “USC’s Trojans Hit a Home Run in a Trademark Battle over ‘SC,’” B&W IP Update, 2010
• “The Patent and the Pendulum: The Oscillating Interface of Antitrust and Patent Law,” Prepared for the ABA Antitrust Section’s “Competition and Innovation in High-Tech Industries” Conference, 2002 (co-authored with Mark T. Banner)

University of Illinois Alumni Activities

• Chicago Illini Leadership Council, Chair, 2015-16, Member, 2014-20
• Athletic Board, Member, 2012-16; Athletic Director Search Committee, Member, 2015-16
• College of Law Board of Visitors, Member, 2005-11
• Campus Alumni Advisory Board, Member, 2006-12
• Mentor, law and engineering students
• Member: President’s Council, John E. Cribbet Society, UI Alumni Association Life Member

Richard also has governmental relations and policy experience. He has prepared draft legislation, and served as a legislative extern to the Illinois House of Representatives. Richard also interned in Congress, where he worked on legislation such as the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act, H.R. 436, later enacted as Pub. L. No. 104-55 and codified at 33 U.S.C. § 2720.

In Chicago, Richard served on the Roscoe Village Neighbors Board of Directors, and appeared with his daughter in Ballet Chicago’s The Nutcracker in 2017-19 and 2021. His other volunteer activities have included serving on the Chicago Public Schools Local School Council for Audubon Elementary School and the Champaign Liquor Advisory Commission, and volunteering as an instructor for Presidential Classroom for Young Americans in Washington, D.C.  

Richard’s pro bono work has included representing Lincoln Park Zoo, Timeline Theatre, and Kilimanjaro Technology Foundation. He also assisted the Chicago-Kent Patent Hub, part of the USPTO Patent Pro Bono Program, from 2017-20.

Richard enjoys hiking, skiing, travel and spending time with his three children. He has visited more than 80 countries.