Eric’s practice includes the preparation and procurement of patents in numerous technology fields including software systems, computing device architecture, electronics, semiconductors, process control systems, computer networks, automotive control systems, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, signal processing, and media distribution and consumption systems. He took an early interest in the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, on which he based articles and created a framework for responding to subsequent 35 U.S.C. § 101 rejections. Eric has faced and overcome numerous subject matter eligibility rejections throughout his years of prosecution. He also took an early interest in the Supreme Court’s decision in SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu and recently co-authored an article analyzing its potential effect on Patent Trial and Appeal Board practice. Eric has represented various clients from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies and strives to apply his prosecution expertise in intellectual property litigation.
Eric earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he invented, designed, and built an apparatus relating to acoustics and digital signal processing. Thereafter, Eric drafted, filed, and prosecuted pro se a patent application for his invention to issuance. During this time, Eric also acquired his J.D. and a certificate in Intellectual Property from the John Marshall Law School.
During law school, Eric participated in a number of Mock Trials as an advocate, a coach, and a judge. Eric spent his first summer of law school studying intellectual property at Peking University in Beijing, China and working in-house at a leading semiconductor manufacturing company in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Thereafter, Eric gained valuable experience at an IP boutique firm in the northwest suburbs drafting and prosecuting applications for individual inventors and small businesses. Eric became an associate at a Chicagoland IP boutique firm prior to joining Banner & Witcoff, where he continued drafting and prosecuting applications for global corporations.
Mr. Zelepugas is admitted to practice in the state of Illinois and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
He practices in the firm’s Chicago office.