Name: Charles Holoubek
Patent attorney, Davis & Bujold
How does one become a patent lawyer specifically? What drew you to that area of the law?
To become a patent lawyer you need to first be a lawyer – go to law school and sit for and pass a state bar exam. And second you need to be patent-bar eligible – have a science or engineering degree – and sit for and pass the patent bar exam. It is a very specialized area of law, and you end up with a relatively small group of practitioners. Out of the approximately 750,000 lawyers in the United States, only maybe 2 percent are registered patent attorneys.
We are also one of the only types of lawyers who ethically get to put a label in front of our name – we're not just attorneys, we're patent attorneys.
To be honest, I had a pretty circuitous path getting here. But I guess what I really enjoy about patents is the melding of science and law, that I am always dealing with the cutting edge of technology, and, because of the sophistication of clients Davis & Bujold attracts, I deal with such a wide variety. For example, in just the past week I have worked with telephone calling systems, watercraft controls, building structural ventilation, engineered human tissue scaffolds, and automotive transmissions. What other line of work can I not only be regularly exposed to all that, but have a hand in helping those inventors gain legal protection for their inventions?
What are some of the most interesting things you've helped secure patents for?
I would say all of the patents are fascinating on some level or another, but a pretty cool invention we helped secure a patent for was U.S. Pat No. 6,685,135, a “Lift System Intended for Free-falling Persons.” It is a strap-on unfolding delta-wing that is used when jumping out of airplanes. It unfolds mid-flight and allows the jumper to direct his flight path, but also has optional integrated parachute, rocket thrusters, and weapons systems.
Have you ever patented anything yourself?
Not yet, buy my son Jackson, who plans to be a scientist/inventor when he grows up, already has me committed to patent a few inventions for him when he gets them ironed out a little more. (Ed. note: The only hint Holoubek would reveal about said venture is that it would involve “bending time.”)
Clear up any common misconceptions about patents.
Misconceptions? Well, three come to mind. A big one is that a patent confers no rights to practice an invention – just rights to prevent others from doing so. Second, employers do not automatically own inventions made by their employees; there must be a properly worded, signed employment agreement before hand. And third, the commonly termed “poor man's patent” of putting a written description of your invention in an envelope and mailing it to yourself is, for the most part, legally meaningless – especially under the new America Invents Act law.
Can the Insider patent our unique brand of snarky charm and wit?
It would be challenging, but if we could tie it to a machine or transformation, we would defiantly increase the odds. Oh, but wait – if you have been publicly practicing your snarkily charming wit for over 12 months, you are outside of the statutory time limit to file an application for a patent, and have, in effect, donated your inventive brand of discourse to the public. That was awfully nice of y'all. As a member of the public, I say thank you.
Come up with a title for a John Grisham style novel for a patent attorney (We thought of The Claim, The Revocator, and A Time To Copyright)?
A Time To Copyright doesn't work, because copyright law and patent law are entirely different things. Copyright law covers the expression of ideas, whereas patent law deals with the idea itself.
How about The Specification; A Time to File; or The Runaway Jury from the Eastern District of Texas? (Ed. note: The Eastern District of Texas became known as an extremely patent-friendly area after a local judge made some changes to the way patents were handled.)
We hear you have a lengthy commute, probably one of the longest of anyone who works in Concord. Tell us about that.
I live in Shreveport, La., but work in Concord – admittedly, it's a bit of a drive. I fly up once a month and work remotely the rest of the time. This allows me to both give my son a gifted education, be close to family, develop new clientele, and pick pecans from the trees in my front yard in Louisiana, all the while working for a world-class patent law firm here in Concord.
If you weren't an attorney, what would you be?
A professor, a priest, or a public servant.
What's your hidden talent?
On a good day I can sing a pretty mean Panis Angelicus.
What's your guilty pleasure?
Well, my first thought would be putting my feet up on a Saturday and watching LSU Tigers football, but it would really have to be enjoying a slice of my wife's amazing pecan pie with a scoop of Bluebell homemade vanilla ice cream. A true Southern decadence. It is like magnolia trees, warm summer nights, front porch swings, and sweet iced tea all in a flakey crust.
