Melissa A. Haapala

Counsel, Admitted only in Colorado. Supervised by D.C. Bar member Michael Specht.

Melissa A. Haapala is counsel in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group. She has more than ten years of service as an Administrative Patent Judge at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), most recently serving as a Vice Chief and Acting Deputy Chief Judge.

As a Vice Chief Judge, Melissa had a substantial role in the development and implementation of PTAB policy. Melissa led the pre- and post-issuance review processes put in place to promote decisional quality and consistency and led several rulemaking efforts. Additionally, she had significant executive and supervisory responsibilities, including the supervision of an operational division of six lead judges and approximately 60 administrative patent judges.

During her time at the PTAB, Melissa presided over hundreds of inter partes review proceedings under the America Invents Act and ex parte appeal proceedings in the electrical, computer science, and business method arts. She has been a frequent speaker on PTAB practices and policy.

Prior to joining the USPTO, Melissa worked for a decade in the electronics industry as in-house counsel, with significant experience managing all aspects of intellectual property, including patent litigation, patent portfolio management, patent clearance, licensing, standards issues, open source, and transactional support.

Melissa’s practice is focused on assisting clients with post-grant proceedings before the PTAB and advising clients on PTAB practice and policy. Additionally, she counsels clients on litigation, licensing strategies, Standard Essential Patent (SEP) issues, and IP due diligence.

Melissa received her J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law and her B.S. in applied mathematics (computer science track) from the University of Colorado. She also holds an M.S. in computer information systems from Regis University.