About Patrick
Patrick Cummins combined technical training and legal study into a career in patent law that moves between government examination and private practice. He earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Louisville, followed by a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law. His academic path laid a clear technical foundation for the work that followed.
After law school, Cummins spent time at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner in the Electrical Arts. That period gave him day-to-day exposure to patent prosecution and claim examination. It also offered an inside view of how examiners evaluate inventions and draft office actions. He left the Office and entered private practice, bringing that perspective to clients and firms.
In private practice he moved through several regional and national firms. He was at Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice in 2014, then at Downey Brand in 2015, and joined Middleton Reutlinger in 2016. Each position added different practice demands: handling patent applications, responding to office actions, and advising inventors and companies on clearance and protection strategies. In 2019 he established his own practice, naming it Cummins Intellectual Property (IP) Law PLLC. The move to start a firm reflected a shift toward running a practice tailored to patent work.
Cummins draws on his electrical engineering degrees when working on matters that involve electronics, embedded systems, and related software. He prepares and prosecutes patent applications, drafts opinions, and supports licensing and transactional needs when intellectual property is a client concern. Clients have included inventors and small companies seeking to protect technical innovations, as well as outside counsel seeking prosecution assistance.
He is admitted to practice in Washington and California. That geographic footing lets him represent clients on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. His time as an examiner and his years at law firms inform how he approaches claim drafting and prosecution strategy. He tends to emphasize clear claim language and practical advice about how to move an application through the examination process.
Cummins continues to operate Cummins Intellectual Property (IP) Law PLLC. He practices patent prosecution, patent counseling, and related intellectual property work for clients in electrical and software technologies.
