Our Staff

Richard C. Litman is a registered patent attorney who focuses his practice on Intellectual Property Protection, Licensing and Commercialization; Technology Transfer for Universities and Research Centers; Formation and Growth of Technology Companies; and Debt and Equity Financing.

Innovation and entrepreneurship come naturally to Mr. Litman. In addition to over 30 years of experience as a patent and trademark attorney, he has been a director of two banks that were acquired and served more than a decade as Chairman of Freedom Bank of Virginia.

He was the founding shareholder of Litman Law, a boutique international intellectual property and technology law firm he founded 30 years ago near the USPTO in Northern Virginia. Over the years Mr. Litman grew the practice from a sole practice to 20 attorneys and patent practitioners and a staff of 60: Litman Law conducted more than 30,000 patent searches and obtained over 5,000 U.S. patents and more than 500 U.S. trademark registrations. Combining his interest in business and finance, the practice evolved in recent years to an international practice representing universities, research institutions, programs supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, technology innovators and entrepreneurial companies.

Mr. Litman’s focus is on strategic intellectual property, business and regulatory representation relating to multinational development and commercialization of emerging technologies, particularly for regulated products such as medical devices, biotechnology, and agricultural products, innovations involving information, communications, financial and business processing, and energy, water, and environmental technologies.

Activities and Memberships

Among other professional and business activities, Mr. Litman is Legal Counsel for the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Association of University Research Parks, and the Licensing Executives Society. He was Chair of the Patent Committee and Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the DC Bar (Washington, DC) and Chair of the Economic Development Commission in Arlington, VA.

Mr. Litman is the founder of the Global Academic Innovation Network (GAIN), comprised of technology transfer and economic development experts worldwide.

He is recognized for his achievements in Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. He has an AV Martindale-Hubbell rating and is recognized in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. The Pennsylvania senate recognized him for his “tireless efforts to benefit the community at large”. He was also commended by President Clinton for his “deep concern about our future” and his “exemplary commitment to improving our world”.

Bar Admissions

• Virginia

• Florida

• Washington, DC

• Maryland

• Pennsylvania

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)

Education

• George Washington University, LL.M., Patent & Trade Regulation Law

• Antioch School of Law, Master's degree, Forensics Sciences

• University of Miami, J.D. cum laude

• Union College, B.S.

Professional Experience

Richard J. Apley is the Chief Patent Officer of the Intellectual Property and Emerging Technologies practice group. A registered patent agent, Mr. Apley is responsible for training on patent practice and procedures and supervising patent practitioners and staff. He handles patent prosecution matters, particularly applications participating in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) “Interview Before First Action” program.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Apley served as Director of the USPTO Office of Independent Inventor Programs. Before his appointment to Director, Mr. Apley served as a Supervisory Patent Examiner of art units in mechanical and chemical engineering, computer controlled teaching apparatus and simulators, and biomedical and surgical devices and methods during his more than three decades at the USPTO.

Additionally, Mr. Apley represented the USPTO in the media, on the Board of Directors of the National Inventor Hall of Fame, on the Consumer Protection Initiatives Committee, and as part of the United States Attorney General’s Council on White Collar Crime. Additionally, Mr. Apley instructed new patent examiners in their initial 3-week training and was responsible for rewriting, designing, and updating various training manuals used by the examiners and their instructors.

Bar Admissions

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) – Registered Patent Agent

Education

• University of Baltimore, J.D., magna cum laude

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, B.S., Civil Engineering

Publications

• Business Method and Software Patents - A Practical Guide. Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Oxford University Press, USA, 2012

• “Exhausted By Patent Exhaustion”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 6, 26-28 (2008)

• “Zeroing In On Design”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 3, 39 (2008)

• “One Small Step Towards Patent Harmonization: KSR and the EPO”, Morgan D. Rosenberg and Richard J. Apley, Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 15, No. 1, 34-35 (2008).

Professional Experience

James “Nick” Lafave is a Registered Patent Attorney who focuses his practice on Intellectual Property Protection & Management, Licensing and Commercialization, and Technology Transfer for Research Universities and Innovation Centers. Mr. Lafave has a research science background in biology and provides expertise in the area of biotechnology, with a particular focus on molecular genetics and microbiology. He also assists with innovators to develop commercialization strategies leveraging international intellectual property laws and treaties to preserve intellectual property rights and product development opportunities.

As a researcher, Mr. Lafave studied biology at Williams College, where he graduated with honors for his research into microsatellite markers in the local house finch population. He spent two years working at a Harvard Medical School research laboratory studying host-pathogen interactions, with a particular focus on immune surveillance and immune avoidance mechanisms. Mr. Lafave earned his Master’s Degree from the University of Massachusetts department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, where he studied drug tolerance mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) using whole genome screening and gene cloning strategies.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lafave spent a summer internship working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Art Unit 1634, dealing with personalized medicine and genetics.

Bar Admissions

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) - Registered Patent Attorney

• Virginia

Education

• American University, Washington College of Law, cum laude

• University of Massachusetts, M.S., Biomedical Sciences

• Williams College, B.A., Biology, Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Society)

Publications

• Balsara, Z.R., Mishagi, S., Lafave, J.N., Starnbach, M.N., “Chalmydia trachomatis Infection Induces Cleavage of the Mitotic Cyclin B1,” Infect. Immun. 74:10 pp. 5602-5608 (2006).

Personal Interests

Mr. Lafave prefers to spend his free time traveling to explore new places and cultures, but also enjoys hiking and camping with his family.

Professional Experience

Nahied Usman is admitted to practice before the Virginia bar and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Nahied graduated from Washington College of Law, American University, in 1999 and has been working in the field of intellectual property law since then.

Nahied has extensive experience in the preparation of new patent applications, patent prosecution, and opinion work. Nahied’s practice encompasses diverse technological fields, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, industrial chemicals, and consumer products. Her experience also includes other technical areas, such as display device technology, battery and solar cell technology, semiconductor technology, as well as aspects of polymer science.

Bar Admissions

• Virginia

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) - Registered Patent Attorney

Education

• Washington College of Law, American University, J.D.

• George Mason University, B.S.

Additional Languages

• Dari

• Farsi

Professional Experience

Alfred “Al” Muratori joined the practice in 1995 as a patent researcher. He has since held several positions and continues to handle many different IP related tasks including: patent search department manager; counseling inventors on patentability and patent filing strategy; training new employees; and assisting department heads and others in various miscellaneous matters.

Mr. Muratori has 10+ years as an electronic technician/engineer/manager including Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of Ground Radio Communications in the US Air Force and industrial experience as a technician/engineer/manager in digital electronics and telecommunications in a number of applications including textiles, lumber mills, aircraft power plants, food industry and others. He has more than 25 years of patent experience including 5+ years as a patent examiner at the USPTO, 5+ years as an in-house patent agent at a thin film technology lab, and 15+ years as a law firm patent agent.

Bar Admissions

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) – Registered Patent Agent

Education

• North Carolina A & T University, B.S., summa cum laude Engineering Physics

Personal Interests

Mr. Muratori enjoys reading and computer gaming.

Professional Experience

Robert Lyons supervises the preparation and filing of patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He has been engaged in writing and prosecuting patent applications for more than fifteen years. Prior to practicing Intellectual Property Law, Mr. Lyons engaged in the practice of general practice of law as a sole practitioner for twenty years with an office in Rockville, Maryland.

Bar Admissions

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) – Registered Patent Attorney

• Maryland

• District of Columbia

Court Admissions

• Maryland Court of Appeals

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Education

• University of Maryland, B.S., Chemistry

• University of Maryland School of Law, J.D.

• University of Maryland, B.A.

Languages

• Greek

Memberships

• Montgomery County Maryland Bar Association

• American Intellectual Property Law Association

• American Chemical Society

Personal Interests

Mr. Lyons is an amateur radio operator with Extra class license, He is a member of the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club, Inc., and has served as Public Service Chairman for the Club since the early 1990s. He is also a member of the ARRL the US national association for amateur radio and is a permanent member of the National Honor Society.

Roland has been a professional illustrator since 1999. He received his formal training from the Maryland Drafting Institute and has earned a degree in electronics from the University of the District of Columbia. Prior to coming to Litman Law, Roland worked for two engineering firms and a publishing company. Roland’s expertise in AutoCAD and other visual software has proven to be a valuable asset to our team. He enjoys photography and sketching, music and Broadway shows, and visiting museums.

Martha Long graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California where she received a B.A. in Classical Liberal Arts. She was a high school teacher for 18 years. Following that, she received a paralegal degree from Georgetown University. She has served as a Client Service Manager since she joined Litman Law in 1996. An accomplished author, Mrs. Long has been published in several papers, including the National Catholic Register and Twin Circle, and has written a book published by Ignatius Press. She enjoys quilting, cooking, calligraphy, and studying architecture.