Robert Beyers, Ph.D., is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Intellectual Property Practice. Dr. Beyers builds worldwide patent portfolios that protect our clients’ core technologies.

For example, Mr. Beyers has prosecuted hundreds of patents covering user interfaces in electronic products, including user interfaces for touch screen displays. Some of these patents were found valid and infringed in litigations in the United States and abroad.

More generally, Dr. Beyers has helped clients in the semiconductor, computer, Internet, telecommunications, and financial services industries, from startups to industry leaders.

Dr. Beyers’s practice integrates patent strategy with a client’s overall business strategy via patent portfolio analysis, patent prosecution, licensing, infringement, and invalidity analyses, and due diligence investigations in connection with business transactions.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Dr. Beyers practiced law at another prestigious law firm. A prolific writer, he co-authored papers on claims construction and obviousness that have been presented at numerous conferences and seminars. He has also co-authored more than 40 technical papers, including invited review articles for Solid State Physics and the Annual Review of Materials Science.

Before entering private practice, Dr. Beyers worked as a materials scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center, where his projects ranged from basic research on high-temperature superconductors and carbon nanotubes to applied research on integrated circuit and disk drive materials. He managed a materials characterization group, developed microscopy techniques that enable rapid analyses of thin-film devices at close to the atomic level, and built the electron and ion microscopy labs required to exploit these techniques.

Dr. Beyers is a co-inventor on four patents, including the basic patent on single-wall carbon nanotubes (U.S. Patent 5,424,054).

Dr. Beyers is a member of the State Bar of California, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Dr. Beyers received his J.D., summa cum laude, in 2000 and his M.B.A. in 2001, both from Santa Clara University. He received his Ph.D. in materials science in 1989, his M.S. in materials science in 1982, and his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1980, all from Stanford University.

Dr. Beyers is admitted to practice in California.