Brent Clothier, Ph.D.

Patent Agent

Brent Clothier, Ph.D., is a registered patent agent at Henry Patent Law Firm focused on patent preparation and prosecution, including U.S. domestic and international applications. He works with clients ranging from individual inventors and early-stage companies to small and middle-market private businesses, as well as large corporations. 

With a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, Brent’s work focuses on material science, mechanical engineering, and electronics engineering, including devices, telecommunications, nanotechnology, ceramics, metallurgy, semiconductors, energy, chemistry and physics.

Brent assists clients with developing patent portfolios by reviewing and assessing their inventions, consulting on global strategy, and drafting strong patents with a focus on long-term enforcement and protection. He has cultivated a reputation for drafting high-quality seminal patent portfolios for clients during critical phases of early growth.

Brent’s work often begins with U.S. filings, which are converted to applications in jurisdictions around the world. He frequently works with clients in the venture capital stages whose intellectual property is vital to securing funding for advanced product development and launch. Many of his relationships have spanned years, seeing startups grow to mid-size companies with successful products and global patent portfolios.

Clients value Brent’s work for his technical prowess and the quality of his patent applications, as well as his valuable strategic advice. His approach includes advising about the patentability of inventions with an eye toward saving client resources, identifying the scope of an invention’s different potential applications, outlining risks, and embedding back-up positions and hedging in portfolios for protection in the event of potential litigation.

Brent has experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications for a variety of clients, including Fortune 100 companies. Before entering the field of patent law, he worked at General Electric Global Research as a technical program manager, where he led interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to explore new technologies for commercialization. He is the lead inventor on more than 20 patents and worked extensively with General Electric’s in-house counsel in prosecuting these patents to issuance.

Brent holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral research developed new chemical processes to integrate thin films of magnetoresistive ceramics onto silicon wafers. The resulting hybrid devices yielded highly sensitive magnetic sensors. Brent’s dissertation was selected by the Department of Energy for patenting and inclusion in its intellectual property portfolio (U.S. Pat. No. 8,974,855).

Representative Matters

Quantum Sensor Patent Portfolio Development

Worked closely with a company developing quantum sensor technologies as they built an expansive international patent portfolio from the ground up. Leveraging their research backgrounds in advanced materials and quantum technologies, the team has translated the company’s highly complex technologies into a growing, worldwide intellectual property portfolio that includes over 55 issued patents in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Renewable Energy Systems Patent Portfolio Development

Worked with a venture-backed tech startup to execute a sophisticated intellectual property strategy, develop an international patent portfolio, and improve its intellectual property protection. The team has since navigated various intellectual property transactions and developed a valuable patent portfolio for the company spanning the U.S., Europe, and Asia.