Anthony S. Volpe

Shareholder

Overview

Tony draws on his years of in-house and private practice experience to analyze his client's business model and objectives and craft a strategy to achieve the client's goals.

With more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of IP, Tony works with clients in developing strategies that enhance the IP portfolio, extract the best value from a portfolio and avoid the rights of third parties.

When a dispute arises, Tony provides seasoned representation at all levels of inter partes interactions from negotiating a resolution to active engagement in state and federal litigation, agency matters, including appeals before the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the International Trade Commission, the Office of Unfair Competition. He has had inter partes matters concerning patents, patent reexamination, Intre Party Reviews, trademarks, trademark oppositions, trademark cancellations, non-compete/non-disclosure agreements, employment agreements, joint development agreements, unfair competition, trade secrets, infringements and Internet cybersquatting.

Tony’s wide-ranging experience in foreign intellectual property matters includes litigation, administrative proceedings, and licensing of territorial and global rights. He also conducts intellectual property due diligence reviews for domestic and foreign transactions. He has prosecuted patent and trademark applications and rendered opinions regarding patentability, availability, validity, enforceability and licensing of patent, trademark, and trade secret rights internationally.

Tony has counseled clients in an array of technologies, including identification systems, labeling equipment, security systems, cameras, fiber optics, electronics, papermaking, textiles and safety garments for industry and firefighters, games, toys, drug delivery systems, medical equipment, motor vehicle components and systems, recreational vehicle, and advertising display and systems.

Tony is admired by clients and competitors for his knowledge, generosity, and warm personality. He is known for his wiliness to share his knowledge and skill freely, through mentoring, lecturing, and writing.

Tony is a frequent presenter at intellectual property seminars in the United States, Canada, and Europe, and was a Scholar-in-Residence for Legal Studies at Temple University’s Fox School of Business. He is also a regular contributor to The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania’s oldest daily law journal, and he has been a featured author in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Law Newsletter.

Previous Work and Industry Experience

Tony began his career in-house attorney at the Allen Organ Company and later joined the in-house staff of AMP Inc. In the late 1970s, he entered private practice in his home city of Philadelphia. In 1987, he joined Fred Koenig as a founding shareholder of Volpe and Koenig, P.C.

Life Beyond Law

Tony has always believed in giving back to the community that has afforded him so many opportunities. He has served as a trustee of the Bucks County Historical Society and the Mercer Museum. Tony enjoys being a mentor to young attorneys. When he has a free afternoon, you are likely to find him enjoying his grandchildren, as they grow and change almost daily, or engaging in his love of all things automotive.

Newsroom

Newsroom

Podcasts

Experience

Experience

Tony helps protect clients’ key intellectual property domestically and globally, particularly in the technology areas of:

  • Automotive Technologies and Components
  • Bicycle Components
  • Food Wine and Spirits
  • Furniture and Household Items
  • Medical Devices
  • Nonwoven Products
  • Papermaking Equipment and Fabrics
  • Personal Transportation and Care Items
  • Power and Hand Tools
  • Power Systems and Solar Components
  • Technology Transfer

Honors and Activities

Recognition

  • Ranked among Band 3 in Chambers USA
  • Selected by attorney peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, published by Best Lawyers LLC, for Copyright Law, Litigation – Intellectual Property, Litigation – Patent, Patent Law and Trademark Law, (2012–2024) View methodology used for selection.
  • Named Lawyer of the Year – Pennsylvania, for Copyright Law by The Best Lawyers in America®, (2024) View methodology used for selection.
  • Named Lawyer of the Year – Pennsylvania, for Trademark Law by The Best Lawyers in America®, (2020) View methodology used for selection.
  • Selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® list, published by Thomson Reuters, (2005-2023)

  • Rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell® View methodology used for selection.      
  • Recipient, Leader of Innovation Medal, American Bar Foundation, (2015)
  • Listed among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators, (2020)
  • Selected as a "Patent Star" and "Trademark Star" in Managing Intellectual Property's IP Stars, (2020-2023) View methodology used for selection. 
  • No aspect of these advertisements has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Professional Affiliations

  • Scholar-in-Residence, Legal Studies, Temple University Fox School of Business 
  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • Philadelphia Bar Association, 2018 Chair, Mid-Size Firm Management Committee
  • American Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • Bucks County Bar Association
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Federal Circuit Bar Association

Business Mediation

Business Mediation

When Tony entered practice in the 1970s commercial litigation was fairly rare and generally followed a lengthy effort by the parties to resolve the matter without court intervention. By the time his practice turned to litigation in the 1980s, commercial litigation had become more of a regular course of doing business. Still, the parties and their counsel generally treated each other with respect and civility. This did not diminish the advocacy or any party's view that they were correct and would prevail. Over the approximately last forty years of business disputes, litigation has become the first choice option for resolving disputes.

Business Meditation seeks to have the parties take a business-centric and thoughtful approach to a non-adversarial alternate dispute resolution process. Unlike arbitration, which often becomes as adversarial and expensive as court litigation, where there is a winner and a loser, Business Mediation seeks to turn that time and energy to an agreed upon solution. The parties may have some dissatisfaction on some level because there is no winner or loser. However, they have the satisfaction of knowing the resolution was negotiated by them and not imposed by a judge or jury, which may engender another round of appellate litigation.

Meditation is even more useful at the outset of a commercial dispute to keep the issue from escalating into a court battle, and the obligation to mediation can be written into the original contract or agreement. This is a reasonable approach that lets the parties know at the outset that they will have some control over at least the initial stages of the dispute.

Selecting the right neutral to mediate can be a major factor in reaching a resolution. While the neutral's skills must include legal and business experience, good listening skills may be the most critical. The parties often are in agreement about most factual events; however, they often draw very different conclusions from them. Hearing what each party thinks is the actual root of the problem often provides a clue as to how the matter may be resolved. Drawing the parties into a discussion of what drove the business relationship off of the rails can lead to a solution that puts that relationship back on the rails and provides a true business solution.

Education

University of Toledo College of Law, J.D.

Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (now Philadelphia University), B.S., Textile Engineering

Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
    U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
    U. S. States Patent and Trademark Office
    Canadian Intellectual Property Office
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