Unique Pro Bono Project Nets Patent for Austin High School Robotics Team

The students were among the 88,000 young people worldwide who took part in the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2014. Segway inventor Dean Kamen created the competition in 1989 to encourage science, technology and engineering education. The device they invented, dubbed the ChapR, serves as a wireless Bluetooth controller for homemade robots that is far less expensive than the laptop computers commonly used by robotics teams. They have sold dozens of ChapRs, at $100 each, to fellow robot builders, using the proceeds to fund free ChapRs for underprivileged schools.

Obtaining a U.S. patent normally takes about three years. Because the students involved were due to graduate within that period, Tucker opted to use the Patent Office’s relatively new Track One accelerated procedure, which involves an extra fee. “We got it through in just about a year, which is remarkably fast,” Tucker said. Tucker worked alongside fellow Austin partner Ed Cavazos and legal secretary Kathryn Seeman.

“This was a really challenging and interesting case for me,” Tucker reflected. “We wanted to secure an allowance before students graduated, which meant there was no time for an appeal when the patent examiner took a hard line. Our arguments, and more importantly the truly innovative work by the student inventors, persuaded the examiner that the invention was significant enough to warrant patent protection.”

Eric Rothfus, coach of the Westlake High School robotics team noted: “This is the first patent issued to Westlake High School inventors, and represents a great accomplishment by these young engineers. We intend for this to be simply the start of innovation at Westlake High School as we develop and grow our Chap Research program.”

After more than 10 years in Texas, Pillsbury opened its second office in the state in 2014 with four attorneys in Austin. The office has since grown to 15 attorneys and offers a full slate of legal services in energy, corporate and transactional, environmental, real estate and construction, intellectual property and technology transfers, and financial services. Pillsbury’s Austin office is firmly committed to the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility goals, including providing substantial services pro bono.

Pillsbury’s pro bono practice is as varied as our work for paying clients. From affordable housing to voting rights, and nearly every issue in between, the passions of our individual lawyers drive our pro bono caseload. We handle high impact litigation matters as well as provide basic legal services to the poor. We also counsel nonprofit organizations on a variety of matters like formation, mergers, intellectual property, real estate, and tax.

About Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with an industry focus on energy & natural resources, financial services including financial institutions, real estate & construction, and technology. Based in the world’s major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory and litigation matters. We work in multidisciplinary teams that allow us to understand our clients’ objectives, anticipate trends and bring a 360-degree perspective to complex business and legal issues—helping clients to take greater advantage of new opportunities, meet and exceed their objectives and better mitigate risk. This collaborative work style helps produce the results our clients seek.