Kenneth R. Allen
Partner
Electronics, Telecommunications & Software
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP
Palo Alto

Ken brings over three decades of experience in Silicon Valley with hundreds of patents in electronics, telecommunications, computers and related technologies. He is the senior patent prosecutor in Townsend’s Palo Alto office, and he has prepared and successfully prosecuted hundreds of U.S. patents. Specific technologies include wireless telecommunications, networks, digital signal processing, analog circuitry, instrumentation, software, microwave, lasers, nonlinear optics, electro-optic systems, multivariate and servo control systems, artificial intelligence, expert systems, video imaging, character and pattern recognition, speech recognition, computer architecture, satellite control systems, digital audio broadcasting, medical diagnostics and mechanical devices. In addition to patent prosecution, Ken also assists clients with licensing and trademark issues, particularly those related to high technology products and services. He also counsels on copyright protection for computer software.

Notable clients have included Metricom, Viasat, Photon Dynamics, IntelliCorp, SRI International, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The National University of Singapore, GlimmerGlass, GemFire, 3Com, Hewlett-Packard, Stanford University, SRI International, and PIXAR, as well as numerous start-up ventures.

Ken has lectured on intellectual property law at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, the University of Santa Clara School of Law, San Jose State University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and international conferences in India, China and Japan. He is the author of several law and patent-related articles on invention disclosure and inventors’ rights published in IEEE Spectrum, Intellectual Property Today, California Law Business, EDN Magazine, and IEEE Proceedings on Professional Communications.

Ken’s interests are not restricted to the law. In addition to his practice and community involvement, he has authored a book on European-American family history and written short stories and biographies. Since 1991, he had produced a cable television program that airs in the Mid-Peninsula. His involvement includes all aspects of production. Programs range from concerts and sports events to travel, educational documentaries, lectures and talk shows, has been a finalist in the Western Access Video Excellence Awards Competition and tutored students who have gone on to win Emmy awards. He has served on the board and as an officer of Cable Co-op in Palo Alto and oversaw distribution of $4 million in legacy grants following sale of the company to AT&T. As an amateur actor he has played the roles of Harry MacAfee in “Bye, Bye Birdie” and newspaper editor Charles Webb in Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town.” In 2005 and 2006 Ken took a sabbatical leave to give in volunteer church service with his wife to young single adults in Hamburg, Germany. He returned to full-time practice in 2007.

Academic Credentials:
J.D., Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA, 1975
Harvard Law School, additional studies in Patent Law, 1974
S.M. in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1972
B.S. cum laude, in Electrical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1971

Bar Admissions:
State Bar of California, 1975
United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1974
United States Supreme Court, 1979
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Ninth Circuit

Professional Affiliations:
American Bar Association
Palo Alto Area Bar Association
Bar Association of San Francisco
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (Past President)
Intellectual Property Law Section, State Bar of California
San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Association
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property)
J. Reuben Clark Law Society (Board Member, Silicon Valley Chapter)

Community Activities:
Board of Directors and Corporate Secretary, Cable Co-op of Palo Alto
Adviser, Emergency Preparedness, Palo Alto Unified School District
Assistant Emergency Coordinator for Palo Alto (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services)

Foreign Language: German