Stephen Ray Yoder

Steven Fisher-Stawinski

Patent application lawyer | Dec 04

Relationship: Worked together on matter

"Steve Yoder and I were both IBM in-house patent attorneys working on patent prosecution. Recently, I had the opportunity to move on from the patent drafting group, and some of my cases were re-assigned. Today, I reviewed allowances for which I had been credited. In several cases, Steve Yoder had taken up the case through to allowance and had credited me, and not himself on the issued patent. Based on the file histories, in each of these cases, Steve had clearly determined that he had not added enough work to merit being credited, and so credited only me. If the situations were reversed, I would have done the same, though I know that professional standards would allow the practitioner signing the issue fee transmittal to take credit. This action of taking credit only when earned is the mark of an exceptional practitioner who pays careful attention to detail, and I enthusiastically recommend Steve Yoder for any patent procurement task."