James C. De Vellis

Senior Counsel, Electronics Practice Group
Foley & Lardner LLP

James De Vellis is senior counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP where he is a member of the Electronics Practice. He practices in the area of intellectual property, with a particular focus on patent post-grant practice, including reexamination proceedings, and patent portfolio development.

Mr. De Vellis' strategic patent portfolio development practice includes thoughtful preparation and worldwide prosecution of patent applications to build effective IP portfolios. He helps innovators secure both offensive and defensive patent protection, enabling them to operate in their intellectual space on their terms. Mr. De Vellis devotes a significant amount of his time to post-grant patent prosecution practice, including reexamination proceedings and product clearance evaluations to advance clients’ business objectives by developing sustainable patent portfolios and by acting as a check on competitors’ patents that encroach beyond their appropriate boundaries.

Mr. De Vellis counsels clients in all areas of intellectual property procurement and related transactions, and has experience in foreign jurisdictions to complement his U.S. patent portfolio development practice. He represents innovators in all aspects of patent post-grant proceedings, including preparation and defense of multiple ex parte and inter partes reexaminations, and reissue proceedings. Mr. De Vellis also prepares non-infringement and freedom-to-operate opinions for industry leaders, represents clients in appeal proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and guides clients through European patent portfolio development matters.

Mr. De Vellis has previously lived and worked as a U.S. patent lawyer in Europe for an Italian firm, where he focused on worldwide patent procurement and portfolio development. Prior to entering intellectual property law, Mr. De Vellis was employed as an electrical engineer for a major brushless DC disk drive motor manufacturer.