E. Rico Hernandez

E. Rico Hernandez’s practice primarily focuses on the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. He provides consulting services regarding the patentability and strategic drafting of patent claims directed to software, Internet and computer-based innovations in view of prevailing case law. Rico also has experience in U.S. District Court litigation for patent and trademark disputes, as well as post-grant proceedings at the USPTO.

Rico received his law degree from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. Prior to beginning his professional career, Rico received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York, NY and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

At BCF, Rico has used his diverse experience to prepare patent applications directed to 5G wireless technologies regarding infrastructure, antenna design, and user devices; he reviews and revises applications and responses by team members to ensure quality control. Rico also assist in developing strategic guidelines, protocols, and quality control standards to accommodate client patent demands. He manages, mentors, instructs and supervises a team of patent professionals comprising of agents and staff.

Before joining the firm, Rico was Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop LLP in Virginia, US, where he prepared 100's and prosecuted 1000's of patent applications in the electrical engineering space, including wireless communications, networking, computer architecture, semiconductor, data processing, electronics, electromechanical, digital signal processing, related business methods, and optical/medical fields. He also conducted investigations, evaluated IP assets, formulated strategies, and communicated the same to stakeholders; in furtherance of such investigations and strategies, prepared over 70 opinions regarding the patentability, non-infringement, invalidity, and freedom-to-operate of IP assets. Rico has also developed successful non-infringement and invalidity strategies for numerous litigations, Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, and licensing negotiations.

With his background in electrical engineering, Rico has extensive experience in patent protection and infringement, He managed over a $2.5M patent preparation and prosecution practice for several high-tech Fortune 100 companies in accordance with patent laws and rules of practice.  In this regard, he has participated in preparing many opinions on patent infringement and validity in the United States.