Brad Derickson

Brad Derickson is a registered patent agent who focuses his practice on patent prosecution, helping clients protect innovations across a range of technologies. Drawing on 15 years of experience as a practicing mechanical engineer, Brad brings to his legal practice a firsthand understanding of the product-development process and the technical and practical considerations that shape innovation.

Before entering the legal profession, Brad spent more than a decade with Caterpillar Inc. developing drivetrain systems for construction and mining equipment. His work included leading new-product development from concept through production, encompassing requirements definition, design and analysis, prototyping, design reviews, validation, manufacturing and supplier integration, and product-performance refinement. He later joined Sierra Space as a Senior Mechanical Engineer supporting production of the Dream Chaser spacecraft, where he served as a primary design engineering interface among production, planning, and supply-chain teams.

That engineering background informs Brad’s approach to patent prosecution. Having spent much of his career working alongside engineers and developing new products himself, he understands not only how technology works, but also the engineering decisions, tradeoffs, and practical considerations underlying it. He enjoys working directly with inventors to understand their innovations in technical detail while also considering how those innovations may evolve through design, testing, manufacturing, and use. This perspective helps him identify technical alternatives and potential variations that can be important when describing and protecting an invention.

Brad has experience supporting U.S. and foreign patent prosecution, including preparing responses to Office Actions and restriction requirements, drafting patent applications, conducting patentability and prior-art research, and performing related legal and technical research.

Brad earned his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he received a Scholastic Excellence Award in Patent Law. He also holds an M.S. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics, with high honors, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His graduate research focused on the mechanics of semiconductor nanotube formation.

Brad is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office