George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School

CPIP Publishes Prof. John F. Witherspoon’s Tribute to the Late Judge Giles S. Rich

Judge Giles S. RichCPIP has published a tribute to Judge Giles S. Rich by Professor John F. Witherspoon. Prof. Witherspoon is Director Emeritus, Intellectual Property Program, Antonin Scalia Law School. Prof. Witherspoon’s career in government, academia, and private practice spans more than fifty years.

After practicing with a patent law firm in Washington, Prof. Witherspoon was appointed by the President in 1971 to be an Examiner-in-Chief and to serve on the then Board of Appeals in the Patent Office. Prof. Witherspoon returned to private practice in 1978 and continued practicing law until he retired in 2016. In 1992, Prof. Witherspoon was invited to join the adjunct faculty at Antonin Scalia Law School as Distinguished Professor of Intellectual Property Law and to head the School’s intellectual property law program.

Upon graduating from Georgetown Law School, Prof. Witherspoon clerked for the Honorable Giles S. Rich at the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit). This tribute is adapted from Prof. Witherspoon’s remarks delivered at the January 18, 2017, meeting of the Giles Sutherland Rich American Inn of Court. Prof. Witherspoon pays a heart-warming tribute to the late Judge Rich, whom many regard as one of the foremost authorities on U.S. patent law.

To read the tribute, please click here.