David Bennett

Dave Bennett has practiced as a patent attorney in the Raleigh area since 1985. He is a member of Coats + Bennett and has been with the firm since it was founded in 1987. Prior to that time, he was an associate in the firm of Mills & Coats. Mr. Bennett's practice includes litigation involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. He provides representation at both trial and appellate court levels. His experience also includes multi-party proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office. He has ample experience preparing and prosecuting applications for patents and trademarks and handling appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals. He offers opinions concerning the validity and infringement of issued patents, as well as advice on how to "design around" valid patents. He also counsels clients in the selection of distinctive and enforceable trademarks.

Mr. Bennett has experience preparing patents in a wide range of technologies. Mr. Bennett currently concentrates primarily in the fields of telecommunications, networking, computer technology, and software. He also has substantial experience in mechanical and electromechanical disciplines including material handling equipment and conveyors, industrial and power tools, fluid controls, transducers and signal conversion devices, bar code scanning equipment, textile machinery, cooking equipment, refrigeration equipment, packaging machinery, electronic devices, biomedical devices, and process controls.

Mr. Bennett has been admitted to the practice of law in the State of North Carolina, before the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of North Carolina, before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 1982. He received his Juris Doctor in 1985 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mr. Bennett is a member of the American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, North Carolina Bar Association, North Carolina Intellectual Property Committee, and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers.