People | Sarah M. Gates

Sarah works with clients to identify, protect and leverage their intellectual property rights, assisting companies of all sizes in obtaining patent protection and building their patent portfolios. Sarah has extensive experience across a broad range of electrical and materials engineering technologies and works with clients in a wide variety of, industries, including telecommunications, optics, software development, solar cell systems, microwave and RF devices, systems and antennas, nuclear magnetic resonance devices, and semiconductor materials, devices and manufacturing.  

Sarah has written and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications in a range of technologies, and has been involved in due diligence and freedom to operate investigations. Some representative matters include:

• Prosecuted key technology patents that led to a client’s successful merger with a large competitor, and formed the basis of an ongoing licensing program for the new company.
• Represented a start-up business in due diligence to obtain venture backing, and developed a patent portfolio to establish and protect the company’s position within the telecommunications industry.

• Suffolk University Law School, J.D. , magna cum laude, focus on Intellectual Property Law and Civil Litigation. Received an Academic Leadership scholarship, and commendations for achieving the highest grade in a number of courses, as well as awards for excellence in legal writing and oral advocacy.
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst, M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Masters thesis focused on the use of coplanar waveguide technology for feed networks for microstrip patch antenna arrays.
• University of Cape Town, South Africa, B.S. in Electrical Engineering, with honors.
• While in law school, participated in the AIPLA Giles Rich Intellectual Property Moot Court competition, earning recognition for Best Advocate and Best Appellant’s Brief for the Northeast Region. 
• Worked as an engineer for a fire and security company in South Africa, where she was involved in product research and development and customer support. 

• Admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Connecticut
• Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Co-Chair, International and Foreign Practice Committee of the Boston Patent Law Association
• Named as one of New England’s “Rising Stars” in the field of intellectual property, 2009-2011
• Member and Network Committee Chair, Boston Circle of Red; American Heart Association
• Publication: “Grounded coplanar waveguide-fed aperture-coupled cavity-backed microstrip antenna” published in the Electronics Letters Journal, 8th June 2000, Vol. 36 No. 12
• Faculty member for MCLE seminar on Patents and Patent Prosecution, December 2009, presenting on “Method Claims: Understanding Extraterritorial Issues and Joint Infringement”
• Conversant in Afrikaans