Mark Rygiel, a director in the Mechanical and Design Practice Group, has nearly twenty years of experience in helping clients develop IP strategies to achieve their business goals. Recently, The Legal 500 recognized Mark as a “Highly Recommended Lawyer” for patent prosecution and post-grant proceedings by clients and peers.

Mark specializes in obtaining utility and design patent protection for cutting edge technologies, with particular focus in the consumer product, vehicle system, medical device, and manufacturing industries. Mark manages large patent portfolios with a comprehensive approach that considers the client’s most important products, business goals, competitor positioning and market conditions. He has extensive experience drafting and prosecuting utility and design patent applications and is recognized for his knowledge in the following technical areas: footwear and athletic apparel, physiological sensor systems, laboratory instrumentation, respiratory and ventilation equipment, catheters and grafts, retinal surgery devices, engines and engine brakes, natural gas distribution systems, location-based services, and e-commerce promotions and related technology. He has presented numerous lectures on effective patent portfolio management strategies, particularly tactics under the America Invents Act of 2011.

His practice also focuses on complex post-grant proceedings at the USPTO. Mark has served as lead or second chair counsel numerous inter partes review and reexamination matters, achieving great success on behalf of large corporations in their most important matters. His practice also focuses on analyzing patents for validity, infringement, and freedom-to-operate issues and providing related opinions of counsel, and counseling on IP due diligence in connection with portfolio acquisitions. He also has successfully negotiated contentious matters in the consumer products and e-commerce marketing spaces through settlements and unique development and licensing agreements.

Mark is a contributing author of Patent Office Litigation, Second Edition, published in 2017. The book provides a fresh and comprehensive exploration of patent office litigation proceedings, including how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, while delivering practical analysis and advice. This edition is the follow up to the version published in 2012 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw that focused on the contested proceedings that were introduced under the America Invents Act that year. Mark served as a contributing author for the “Design Patents” chapter of the first edition.

Mark is the editor of The Goods on IP, a newsletter focused on best IP practices for consumer product companies.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Mark worked as a business and information technology consultant for a large consulting firm where he designed manufacturing process systems, including a mill operations system for a large steel manufacturing plant. He also interned in the mechanical engineering department of a large respiratory device company. At The George Washington University Law School, Mark was a member of The Environmental Lawyer Law Journal. At the University of Notre Dame, Mark received a Notre Dame Scholar award and several steel industry related engineering scholarships.

  • The Legal 500, “Highly Recommended Lawyer – Patent Prosecution (including reexamination and post-grant proceedings)” (2017)

  • J.D., The George Washington University Law School
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame

  • District of Columbia
  • Pennsylvania
  • United States Patent & Trademark Office

Related Resources

From Mark W. Rygiel

In the News

June 16, 2023

The Super Eight: These Companies Have Been a Top Workplace Every Year Since 2013

The Washington Post

Client Alert

July 7, 2020

IP Hot Topic: Patent Prosecution Tool Kit

Carla Ji-Eun Kim

Reports

July 7, 2020

Patent Prosecution Tool Kit

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Multiple Authors

Bylined Articles

July 7, 2020

Medical Device Considerations

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel, Trevor M. O’Neill

Bylined Articles

July 31, 2018

Clearing up Conjunctive Claim Construction: PTAB Guidance on the Use of "At Least One Of"

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel, Trevor M. O’Neill

Bylined Articles

July 31, 2018

The Hague System for the Registration of International Design Welcomes Canada

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel, Tracy-Gene G. Durkin

Publication

July 31, 2018

Design Patent PTO Litigation Statistics (Through July 19, 2018)

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

April 25, 2018

Nordt: Structural Limitations Masquerading As Process Limitations

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

April 25, 2018

Read the Fine Print When Using Product Literature for Marking

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

April 25, 2018

Design Patent PTO Litigation Statistics (Through April 16, 2018)

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Presentations

March 9, 2018

Global IP Strategy Conference 2018 PowerPoint Presentations

Mark W. Rygiel

The Goods on IP®

January 31, 2018

The Goods on IP® - January 2018

Multiple Authors

Bylined Articles

January 31, 2018

Arctic Cat: A Chilly Reminder Regarding Licensee Marking

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

January 31, 2018

Patent Marking Basics

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

January 31, 2018

Design Patent PTO Litigation Statistics (Through January 15, 2018)

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

The Goods on IP®

October 25, 2017

The Goods on IP Newsletter - October 2017

Multiple Authors

Bylined Articles

October 25, 2017

"Retro" Designs: Using Your Utility Portfolio to Expand Design Protection

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Daniel A. Gajewski, Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

October 25, 2017

The Goods - News & Notes

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

October 25, 2017

Design Patent PTO Litigation Statistics (Through October 15, 2017)

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

October 24, 2017

Preparing European Priority Applications for Stronger U.S. Patents

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

September 12, 2017

PTAB At 5: Part 2 — Patents That Survive PTAB Scrutiny

Law360 Multiple Authors

The Goods on IP®

July 31, 2017

The Goods on IP - July 2017

Multiple Authors

Bylined Articles

July 31, 2017

3 Tips For Thinking Like An Examiner To Maximize Your Consumer Products Patent's Shelf Life

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel, Chase Hammond

Bylined Articles

July 31, 2017

Brewers & Blades: Avoiding Exhaustion in Products with Consumable Parts

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Daniel A. Gajewski, Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

July 31, 2017

Design Patent PTO Litigation Statistics (Through July 1, 2017)

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Press Release

May 31, 2017

Sterne Kessler Ranked Among Best IP Firms In The U.S. By The Legal 500

Mark W. Rygiel

The Goods on IP®

April 28, 2017

The Goods on IP Newsletter - April 2017

Mark W. Rygiel

Bylined Articles

April 28, 2017

Show and Tell: Successful Examiner Interview Strategies for Consumer Product Cases

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox Mark W. Rygiel

Books and Chapters

February 17, 2017

Patent Office Litigation - Second Edition 2017

Thomson Reuters Westlaw Multiple Authors

In the News

June 20, 2016

Apple Scores PTAB Victory, Nixes Claims In DSS Tech. Patent

Law360 Multiple Authors

In the News

November 20, 2015

PTAB Keeps Magna's Windshield Camera Patent Intact

Law360 Multiple Authors

In the News

March 27, 2015

Apple Gets Claims Cut From PersonalWeb's Data Patent

Law360 Multiple Authors

In the News

November 17, 2014

Apple Pushes PTAB To Nix PersonalWeb's Data Patent Claims

Law360 Multiple Authors

Client Alert

September 2, 2014

Utility Patent Trends Gleaned from the IPO's 2014 IP Record

Mark W. Rygiel

In the News

July 22, 2014

First Patent Derivation Decisions by PTO Use Established Standards to Deny Petitions

BNA Daily Report for Executives Mark W. Rygiel

Client Alert

April 23, 2014

PTAB Invalidates Patent in First IPR Trial of a Design Patent

Mark W. Rygiel, Tracy-Gene G. Durkin

Bylined Articles

January 31, 2014

Consumer Product IP: Coffee Isn't the Only Cure for Exhaustion

IP Today Daniel A. Gajewski, Mark W. Rygiel