Marc J. Farrell, Esquire
Registered Patent Attorney

Marc is the founder and owner of Central PA Patent & Trademark Law Group, LLC. After beginning his career at a respectable midwest intellectual property boutique firm, Marc became the first patent attorney hired in the history of Harrisburg’s largest law firm, McNees Wallace & Nurick, where he helped found that firm’s Patent Practice Group. Marc subsequently worked as a partner at several large law firms having formidable IP practices – including Reed Smith LLP (one of the 15 largest firms in the world) and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney P.C. (one of the 80 largest firms in the U.S. and the largest law firm in Pennsylvania) – where he continued to develop a strong foundation in a broad array of intellectual property matters which he utilizes on a daily basis.

Marc’s practice centers on matters dealing with intellectual property law, including both prosecution (obtaining intellectual property) and litigation (enforcing intellectual property rights and defending against allegations of infringement). He assists clients in many aspects of securing and protecting domestic and international rights in ideas, inventions and other commercially valuable property through patents, trademarks, copyrights and related licensing. In addition to traditional technology protection and litigation, he is engaged in intellectual property matters involving E-commerce, including “method of doing business” patents, domain name matters and various Internet-related agreements. His patent practice includes the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, primarily in the chemical and mechanical arts, including technology related to polymers, coatings, pulp and paper, consumer/personal care products, pharmaceuticals and related medical technology.

A few of Marc’s representations have included:

• Leading the defense of a patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on behalf of large specialty paper manufacturer involving fibrous web materials used for making infusion packages for brewing beverages, which resulted in a favorable settlement prior to summary judgment phase that allowed the client to continue manufacturing the allegedly infringing products.
• Successfully defending a well-publicized copyright infringement action in federal district court after an author of various ghost tale books brought suit against the operators of a walking “ghost tours” business in Gettysburg. See, e.g., Troy, Tom, “New Battle: Ghost Story Copyright - Tellers Clash Over Spooky Tales at Civil War Park,” National Law Journal (Nov. 5, 2001). Marc obtained summary judgment of non-infringement with regard to 99% of the author’s claims and succeeded in having the rest of the suit dismissed with no restrictions on his clients’ ability to continue the allegedly infringing activities that had formed the basis of the author’s complaint.
• Handling the defense of a trademark infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Pennsylvania's third-largest credit union, which resulted in a favorable settlement just prior to trial (after jury selection had taken place) that allowed the client to continue using its mark.
• Serving as domestic and international patent and trademark counsel to a NYSE-traded manufacturer of specialized printing and engineered papers and related products.
• Representing the junior party in a six-way patent interference proceeding before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, involving on-label battery strength indicators.
• Obtaining dismissal with prejudice of a cancellation action brought in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board against a specialty food manufacturer’s trademark registration before. In subsequent federal court litigation between the same parties to the cancellation proceeding, the TTAB’s ruling led the New Jersey federal district court to grant partial summary judgment in the client’s favor.

Marc is the author of several patents, including “Combustion Accelerators, Processes for Their Production and Processes for Their Use in Elemental Analysis,” “Electrolytic Cleaning of Conductive Bodies” and “Non-Caustic Cleaning of Conductive and Non-Conductive Bodies.”

He was recently appointed a member of the Hearing Committee for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Intellectual Property Law Section of both the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.

After graduating cum laude from the University of Delaware with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, Marc attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he received his law degree, cum laude.

A patent attorney registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Marc is also admitted to practice in the following jurisdictions and courts: U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; and other courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.