Andrew H. Velzen prepares and prosecutes patents for clients in the electrical, mechanical and materials, software, and telecommunications industries. Mr. Velzen draws on his academic background in electrical engineering to counsel and support clients on intellectual property matters related to a variety of technologies, including:

• Semiconductor design and fabrication
• Nanotechnology
• Electromagnetics
• Optics
• Photonics
• Batteries
• Cameras
• Light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
• Quantum computing
• Machine learning/artificial intelligence

Mr. Velzen’s clients, which include individual inventors, startup companies, universities, Fortune 100 companies, and international research institutes, seek his guidance on validity, infringement, and patentability. Mr. Velzen also supports the burgeoning quantum startup community in Chicago through his work with Duality, a quantum startup accelerator led by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Quantum Exchange.

Prior to joining MBHB, Mr. Velzen participated in graduate research in the areas of electromagnetics, optics, and nanophotonics, with a specific emphasis on the use of nanostructured metallic surfaces for the application of electromagnetic/optical forces on materials. Outside of his work at MBHB, you can often find Mr. Velzen at Wrigley Field cheering on the Chicago Cubs.

• Overcame longstanding section 101 rejections to secure patents for global electronic trading company.
• Narrowed claims and changed scope to secure a patent for a medical diagnostics startup that helped the company obtain a new round of funding.
• Developed claim sets targeting competitors for continuation filings as a bulwark against outside attacks for a large corporation.
• Prepared an invalidity opinion on a rush timeline that allowed a radio-frequency identification (RFID) company to complete an acquisition.
• Performed legal research and educated the engineering team at an autonomous vehicle technology company about the state of the law surrounding inventorship.
• Supported client in smart card technology space during federal district court litigation in the Northern District of Illinois and associated inter partes reviews before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Andrew H. Velzen, Loot Boxes – Is the Gaming Industry Involved in a Crap Shoot?, 22 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. (2020)

Andrew H. Velzen, Kevin J. Webb, Electromagnetic force on structured metallic surfaces, Physical Review B 92 (11) 115416 (2015).