Calvin M. Brien litigates intellectual property and related business tort cases. He has experience in several federal district and appellate courts, the US International Trade Commission, and the US Supreme Court. Calvin is an electrical engineer and former patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As such, he brings a wealth of technical acumen and patent law expertise to his practice, and is particularly skilled at handling patentability challenges in district court and in post-grant review proceedings before the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Extended Profile
Calvin has experience in all phases of litigation, from pre-suit investigations prior to filing the complaint, through discovery, trial, and the exhaustion of all appeals. He has taken and defended depositions of fact and expert witnesses, and has prepared countless successful motions and briefs.
Calvin regularly leverages his patent examiner background in advising clients how to maximize the values of global patent portfolios through strategic patent prosecution. He also routinely gives CLE presentations to members of the Patent Bar on USPTO procedures and practice.
Calvin translates his litigation experience and success to serving underprivileged clients through his pro bono work, where he has, for example, successfully argued before the US Army Discharge Review Board on behalf of an Iraq War veteran. Calvin is particularly passionate about voting rights and is an active volunteer for the Election Protection Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law in Washington, DC.
Before his legal career, Calvin was an engineer for a defense contractor in Maryland, where he helped design and integrate communications systems for the US Navy and its fleet of aircraft carriers.
Education
Johns Hopkins University, 2020, M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering
The George Washington University Law School, 2018, J.D.
University of Maryland, 2014, M.Eng., Systems Engineering
Mars Hill University, 2011, B.S., B.A., Mathematics and Political Science, summa cum laude
Admissions
District of Columbia
US District Court for the District of Columbia
US Patent and Trademark Office
Awards and Affiliations
Member, International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Intellectual Property, Law360 (2019)
Member, Litigation Department of the Year–Intellectual Property, The American Lawyer (2019)
Member, American Bar Association
Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
Editor, American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal (2016–2018)
Mentor, Student Intellectual Property Law Association Mentorship Program, Georgetown University Law Center
