Kenneth L. Cage is counsel in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Washington, D.C., office. Ken focuses his practice on patent, trademark, copyright, licensing, merger and acquisition matters, as well as on trade-secret litigation and counseling. He has served as a patent legal expert in a number of U.S. district court patent infringement matters, as well as for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ken has over 30 years experience in patent prosecution and technology export matters. He has presented lectures before the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Bureau of National Affairs Annual Patent Conference, the Aerospace Industries Association, The New York International Patent Club, the Institute for Defense Analysis and other law and inventor associations, television talk shows and National Public Radio. He has written on the export of technical data, and in general on other intellectual property topics, including government patent procurement policy. Ken is the author of “Continued Prosecution of the Patent,” a chapter in the ABA’s Drafting Patents for Litigation and Licensing, which discusses continuation, reissue and reexamination patent practices.
Prior to joining McDermott, Ken was a patent lawyer with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Deputy Patent Counsel of the U.S. Department of Energy. In 1981, he became the Examining Group Director of both the Special Laws Administration Group (responsible for mechanical, electrical and chemical defense-related technologies) and the Design Patent Group of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (1981–89). Ken was the recipient of the Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award for initiation, negotiation and implementation of a patent secrecy agreement with Japan (1988), and the Silver Medal Award for revision of export law for foreign filing of patent applications (1985).
Ken was a contributing author to the compulsory patent licensing portion of The Patent Policies Affecting ERDA Energy Programs, submitted to the President and the Congress.
He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and his master's degree in nuclear engineering. He is admitted to the State Bars of Missouri and the District of Columbia. Ken is a member of the Missouri State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association (Patent Trademark and Copyright Law Section Steering Committee, 1988–91), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (Chairman, the Foreign Availability Determination Export Subcommittee, 1990–91), the American Bar Association, Intellectual Property Owners, Inc., and the Government Patent Lawyer Association (President, 1983–1984). In 1997, he was inducted into the Academy of Mechanical Engineers of Missouri S&T.
Education
- University of Missouri School of Law, J.D., 1971
- George Washington University Law School, LL.M., 1975
- Missouri S&T, M.S., 1966
- Missouri S&T, B.S., 1963
