Perry Saidman - Principal

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Perry Saidman is a pioneer in the field of design patent law, successfully representing clients in groundbreaking cases that have established the enforceability of design patents in court. Today, he is perhaps the leading advocate for design patents in the United States.

Curriculum Vitae

In 1990, he created SAIDMAN DesignLaw Group, the first and most successful U.S. law firm to specialize in the patenting of designs. Relying on a team of skilled specialists, the firm works to develop design protection strategies for clients. In addition, Perry's extensive consultancy work, as an expert witness, lecturer and author of numerous publications, has helped the firm build a knowledge bank in design law that is unparalleled.

Well-known in legal and design circles as a leader in the field, Perry was the founder and first chair of the Industrial Design Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and is the founder and co-chair of the Design Protection Committee of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). He also belongs to the ABA Committee 412 on Industrial Designs. He is also the Executive Director of THE DESIGN REGISTRATION LEAGUE which is a coalition of design-conscious companies, associations and individual designers whose singular goal is to get the U.S. Congress to introduce and pass long overdue sui generis industrial design legislation. Such a law would not only strengthen our national economy, but also harmonize our laws with international design protection systems. For Charter Membership Information, please click here.

Perry serves as a consultant and expert witness in design patent and trade dress/product configuration cases, and is a popular keynote speaker both in the U.S. and abroad. Past audiences have included the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Japan Design Protection Association, as well as numerous state bar associations. If you are interested in having Perry make a presentation to your group, please contact us.

Outside the office, Perry has been involved with the Family Education Network (FEN), an organization that provides parenting classes in the Washington, DC area, where he has served as Board Chair and as a teacher/facilitator. He is an active member of the Washington Ethical Society which supports various domestic and international social projects, and is a Founding Member of the Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law & Politics, a group that seeks to transform legal culture within the United States and internationally, so that law can become a vehicle for creating a loving and caring world (www.spiritlawpolitics.org).

Career Highlights:

• 1988, Represented successful plaintiff/patentee at trial level and on appeal in Avia Group International v. L.A. Gear California, Inc., 853 F.2d 1557, 7 USPQ2d 1548 (Fed. Cir. 1988). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower courts findings of validity, willful infringement and attorney fees based upon two design patents, all on a motion for summary judgment. This case established designs patents as valuable components of an intellectual property portfolio.
  
  
• 1989, Keynote speaker and panel discussion leader at the First National Conference on Industrial Design Law & Practice held in Baltimore, Maryland.
  
  
• 1990, Visited Tokyo, Japan, to give full day seminars on U.S. Design Law at invitation of the Japan Design Protection Association and officials of the Japan Patent Office.
  
  
• 1990, founded SAIDMAN DesignLaw Group as a solo practitioner
  
  
• 1991, accepted first expert witness case
  
  
• 1991, first published The Basic Tools of Design Protection in booklet form, sold thousands of copies
  
  
• 1996, published seminal paper "Design Patentees: Don't Get Unglued by Elmer or The Single Most Important Thing to Know About The Preparation of Design Patent Applications", a guide to obtaining broad design patent protection.
  
  
• 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2004 - Speaker at All Ohio Annual Institute on Intellectual Property in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio; has also spoken before Intellectual Property Section of Michigan State Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section of Texas State Bar, New York Intellectual Property Law Association, and New York State Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section.
  
  
• 1999 - 40-hour mediation training by Center for Mediation in Law in New York, who also train mediators for WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation).
  
  
• 2001 - first paper published in Japanese: Kan TrafFix Kops Katch the Karavan Kopy Kats? -or- Beyond Functionality: Design Patents are the Key to Unlocking the Trade Dress/Patent Conundrum,.
  
  
• 2004, prepared an Amicus Curiae Brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in a design patent case. Link to News Item titled "Saidman Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of IDSA"
  
  
  

Admitted:

• 2002, U.S. Supreme Court
  
  
• 1982, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  
  
• 1975, U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
  
  
• 1974, Washington, DC
  
  
• 1973, Maryland
  
  
• 1971, Registered to practice before U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
  
  

Education:

• 1973, George Washington University, J.D., (with honors)
  
  
• 1968, University of Pennsylvania, M.S.E. (Ford Foundation Fellowship)
  
  
• 1967, George Washington University, B.S.E.E. (4-Year Trustee Scholarship)