Kathryn Warner is a registered patent agent who prosecutes patents and provides strategic counseling to clients concerning patentability of inventions related to materials engineering and processing, polymers, fine chemicals, medical devices, solid state electrical devices, optics, and the mechanical arts. Kathryn leverages her background as a research and development engineer and inventor to understand the challenges innovators face in cultivating and protecting their intellectual property.
Kathryn also assists attorneys at the firm with freedom-to-operate analyses, opinions concerning infringement and validity, and due diligence investigations.
Prior to working in private practice, Kathryn worked in-house as a patent agent at Schaeffler Group USA/LuK USA LLC in Wooster, Ohio, where she led efforts to develop and manage Schaeffler’s patent portfolio for torque converter technologies.
Prior to launching her patent career, Kathryn was a senior engineer at Westinghouse Advanced Energy Conversion in Pittsburgh, where she led microstructural characterization related to the development, production, and testing of solid oxide fuel cells. Previously, Kathryn was also a visiting scientist in Denmark with appointments at Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in Roskilde and at the Institute of Mineral Industry, Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby. Kathryn is also a co-inventor of U.S. Patent 5,908,713 related to solid oxide fuel cells and electrodes produced by a sintering process.
Kathryn also has an active pro bono practice on behalf of under-resourced inventors and small businesses, and in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 she was awarded the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate.
Kathryn is proficient in German, and has basic knowledge of Danish and French.