Tom Webster is a registered patent attorney and partner at Nicholson De Vos Webster & Elliott. In a career that—so far—spans over two decades, he has helped clients large and small obtain patent protection for their inventions. He is particularly proud of the relationships he has cultivated with his clients, who include major technology companies, startups, and venture capitalists throughout Silicon Valley.
Tom understands the issues and concerns that clients bring to him. Tom’s services include drafting and prosecuting patent applications; managing patent portfolio development; conducting offensive and defensive patent reviews; targeting of third party products; post issuance proceedings; counseling and rendering opinions on third party patents; and providing technical support during litigation. Tom has participated in inter partes reviews, inter partes reexaminations, and ex parte reexaminations on behalf of his clients, and he has extensive experience working with litigation teams.
Speaking and understanding the language of Silicon Valley engineers is only one part of being an exemplary patent attorney. Tom takes great care to develop and maintain longstanding relationships with every one of his clients, and is proud of the many longstanding relationships he has formed in the Silicon Valley community. In his personal time, Tom enjoys spending time with his family, playing the piano, reading, and meditating.
Patexia Insight recognized Tom as a top patent attorney in 2023.
Technology Competencies:
- Integrated circuit (IC) chip design for general purpose processors and graphics processors
- Wireless communication systems including physical layer devices and protocols
- Mobile device design including hardware, software, and Cloud services
- Internet of Things (IoT) devices and associated Cloud services
- Networking, including routing protocols, security, cryptography, and network management
- Virtualized execution environments including graphics virtualization and virtualized Cloud services
- Compilers and binary translators
- Application programming interfaces (API) for a variety of software architectures
- Video and audio compression and distribution
- Storage systems and databases
Highlighted Work:
- Patent #: 6,353,422: Virtual display system and method
- Patent #: 6,687,846: System And Method For Error Handling And Recovery
- Patent #: 7,168,064: System and method for file caching in a distributed program build environment
- Patent #: 7,418,053: System and method for distributed input-distributed output wireless communications
Bar Admissions:
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- California
- United States District Court, Northern District of California
Law School:
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago-Kent Law Review, High Honors/Order of the Coif
Undergraduate Education:
- B.S., Electrical Engineering; Northwestern University
