Today's column is dedicated to Allen R. Jensen, a patent attorney born in Tremonton, Box Elder County, who died Dec. 9 after a battle with organ rejection.
A graduate of Bear River High School and Utah State University, Jensen's path would make him prominent nationally at a young age, though he remained active locally to the benefit of Utah's patent field.
An attorney's attorney, Jensen was only 33 when he co-founded the Salt Lake law firm of Workman, Nydegger and Jensen in 1984. The firm remains Utah's largest intellectual property law firm. He also served as president of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, chairman of the National Counsel of Intellectual Property Law and president of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section of the Utah State Bar. He later became a partner at the internationally known patent law firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner in Washington, D.C.
I was one of Jensen's students when he taught courses years ago at the Brigham Young University law school as an adjunct professor. He once spent nearly an hour with me after a busy day in the office when I was an undergraduate student, offering advice and guidance. Years later, his former students could still count on him to willingly share his encyclopedic knowledge of patent law.
Jensen remained generous and kind toward others throughout his career despite the pressures of lawyering, never undermining or treating combatively the people around him.
Jensen's death evoked unprompted tributes from several areas of the country. "In my view, Allen Jensen is a national patent hall of famer based primarily on his practice in Utah from the late '70s to the mid-'90s," said Tom Irving, a patent attorney in Washington, D.C.
"It is fair to say that Allen was recognized widely as the most talented, authoritative and enthusiastic patent law scholar in America," said Irving. "Up until six weeks before his death, he actively lectured in a course based on the treatise 'Chemical Patent Law,' of which he was a principal co-author. In his last great performance in October, he gave the lectures of his life; his mind was clear, his tongue was loosened, his magnificent eloquence was magnified."
The firm Jensen co-founded, now Workman, Nydegger and Seeley, processed three of this week's 25 patents listed below, for an X-ray tube housing, a multi-directional infrared port for computers and size adjustable wheel rim masks for cleaning, darkening or shining automobile wheel rims.
The 25 patents listed were awarded to Utah inventors on Nov. 26. U.S. patents are granted each Tuesday. The new patents are:
Multi-lugged bolt carrier and barrel for rifles. Alexander J. Robinson, Salt Lake City; Darin G. Nebeker, Layton. Assigned to ZDF Import/Export Inc., Salt Lake City. Patent No. 6,484,430.
Perforated hollow spike for introducing a water soluble compound into a tree's vascular system. Eddie M. Brown, Duchesne. Patent No. 6,484,440.
Rigid window well structure. Scot Poole, Fruit Heights. Patent No. 6,484,455.
Assembly and process for controlled burning of landmine without detonation. Richard C. Anderson and Charles B. Zisette, both of Logan; Robert D. Ciccarelli, King of Prussia, Pa.; Richard B. Cragun, Pleasant View, Weber County; Michael G. Crilly, Hatboro, Pa.; John E. Delaney Jr., Alexandria, Va. Assigned to Alliant Techsystems Inc., Edina, Minn. Patent No. 6,484,617.
Grout applicator system. Darrin Wayne Lewis, Murray; Robert A. Marrott, Heber City. Assigned to MudMaster LLC, Park City. Patent No. 6,484,782.
Light control window covering and method and apparatus for its manufacture. Bryan K. Ruggles, Salt Lake City; Maria R. Gil and George G. Gil, both of East Greenwich, R.I.; Warren Stephenson, West Greenwich, R.I.; Julian Rokicki, Warwick, R.I. Assigned to Newell Window Furnishings Inc., Freeport, Ill. Patent No. 6,484,786.
Engineered enhanced inserts for rock drilling bits. Nathan R. Anderson and J. Daniel Belnap, both of Pleasant Grove; Chris E. Cawthorne and Michael A. Siracki, both of The Woodlands, Texas; Ronald K. Eyre, Orem; Madapusi K. Keshavan, Sandy; Per I. Nese, Houston; Gary R. Portwood, Kingswood, Texas. Assigned to Smith International Inc., Houston. Patent No. 6,484,826.
Bracket assembly for all terrain vehicle handle bars. Dennis H. Hancock, Mountain Green, Morgan County; Jeffrey D. Hancock, Uintah, Weber County. Patent No. 6,484,913.
Target clamp. Thomas Marshall, Springville. Assigned to Action Target, Provo. Patent No. 6,484,990.
Size adjustable wheel rim masks. Brett Lee Hermansen and Steven Glen Van Woerkom, both of Sandy. Patent No. 6,485,106.
Adapter assembly for heaters and the like. John Henrie and Steve U. Nestel, both of Ogden; Myron L. Jensen, Harrisville, Weber County; Randy C. Jarrett, Mantua, Box Elder County. Assigned to Chromalox Inc., Pittsburgh. Patent No. 6,485,323.
Sterile docking apparatus and method of use. Kurt J. Christoffersen, Millville, Cache County. Patent No. 6,485,593.
Human metabotropic glutamate receptors, nucleic acids encoding same and uses thereof. Lorrie Daggett, Steven B. Ellis, Chen Liaw, Edwin C. Johnson and Stephen D. Hess, all of San Diego; Aaron Pontsler, West Jordan. Assigned to Merck & Co. Inc., Rahway, N.J. Patent No. 6,485,919.
Ectoparasite saliva proteins and apparatus to collect such proteins. Eric R. Weber, Shirley Wu Hunter and Gek-Kee Sim, all of Fort Collins, Colo.; Glenn Robert Frank, Wellington, Colo.; Lynda Wallenfels, St. George. Assigned to Heska Corp., Fort Collins, Colo. Patent No. 6,485,968.
Steroid derived antibiotics. Paul B. Savage, Springville; Chunhong Li, Provo. Assigned to Brigham Young University, Provo. Patent No. 6,486,148.
Voltage down pump and method of operation. Robert S. Green, Sandy. Assigned to Sonic Innovations Inc., Salt Lake City. Patent No. 6,486,730.
Method and apparatus for continuously variable slope delta modulation coding of signals. Todor Cooklev, Moraga, Calif.; Darrin J. Gibbs, South Jordan; Kenneth S. Morley, Draper. Assigned to 3Com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. Patent No. 6,486,810.
Dual frequency window mount antenna. Alan Van Buren, Cedar City. Assigned to Wilson Electronics Inc., St. George. Patent No. 6,486,840.
Multi-directional infrared port and methods of using same. Rick D. Giles, Sandy. Assigned to 3Com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. Patent No. 6,486,994.
Drive heads for storage media drive with displaced pair of sensors. David Hall, Salt Lake City. Assigned to Iomega Corp., San Diego. Patent No. 6,487,049.
Sub rack based vertical housing for computer systems. Shane R. Robbins, Santaquin; Clark M. Roundy, South Jordan; Jason Lowry, Sandy. Assigned to Linux NetworX Inc., Sandy. Patent No. 6,487,080.
X-ray tube having an integral housing assembly structure. Scot Poole, Fruit Heights; Jeff Takenaka, Scott Coles, Mark Lange and Karen Quinn, all of Salt Lake City; Christopher Artig, Summit City, Iron County; Jim Burke, Glenview, Ill; Brian Carsten, Park City; Craig Smith, Herriman. Assigned to Varian Medical Systems Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. Patent No. 6,487,273.
Methods and systems for electronic receipt transmission and management. Steven B. Smith, Holladay; Nicolas A. Thomas, Orem; Warren M. Rosner, South Jordan. Assigned to In2M Corp., South Jordan. Patent No. 6,487,540.
Self-removing e-mail verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient. John W. L. Ogilvie and Genie L. Ogilvie, both of Salt Lake City. Patent No. 6,487,586.
The ornamental design for a bolt. Brant Monson, Provo. Design Patent No. D466,001.
Contributing: Salt Lake patent attorneys Jonathan W. Richards and Kevin Laurence and Washington, D.C., patent attorney Tom Irving
Karl R. Cannon is a partner in the law firm of Clayton, Howarth & Cannon, P.C., specialists in patent, trademark and copyright law. He may be contacted at 801-255-5335 or by e-mail at kcannon@chcpat.com. Copies of patents are available by mail for $3 each from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Box 9 (Copy Sales), Washington, DC 20231; by credit card via telephone 703-308-9726 or toll free 800-972-6382; facsimile 703-305-8759; or e-mail ptcs@uspto.gov. Patents can also be viewed and printed free of charge from several Internet sites, including www.uspto.gov or www.delphion.com