Profile
Mr. Sneath is a shareholder and principal at Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. in Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his J.D. degree in 1983 from Duquesne University School of Law. He has been designated by his peers as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the field of Business Litigation and is a member of the prestigious Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County. He is the First Vice-President and National Member of the Board of Directors of the 22,000 member international lawyer association DRI (Defense Research Institute) and is the former Chair of its Commercial Litigation Committee and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. He is the former editor of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's (PBA) Civil Litigation Section newsletter magazine and is the Chair of the PBA Intellectual Property Law Section. Mr. Sneath has extensive federal and state court trial experience in cases involving commercial disputes, intellectual property matters, construction claims, professional negligence lawsuits, pharmaceutical and products liability litigation, insurance coverage and insurance bad faith claims. He has tried over 90 cases to jury and non-jury verdict in Federal and State Court jurisdictions and has helped clients resolve disputes through a variety of Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures. He is Regional Editor of the DRI national publication "The Business Suit" and is a frequent lecturer and course planner for seminars on a wide range of business litigation, intellectual property and personal injury topics. Mr. Sneath has also devoted Pro Bono time to the representation of battered women in Protection from Abuse hearings and trials and is active in his Church and community. He is currently representing clients in trademark, copyright and products liability matters and in patent litigation matters pursuant to the
Local Patent Rules promulgated in 2005 by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. These rules are designed to make the Pennsylvania Western District a forum of choice for patent infringement and invalidation actions. He is also prepared to assist out-of-state law firms and their clients with the intricacies of these Local Patent Rules which provide a procedural mechanism for accelerated case disposition, and numerous changes to the processes of Federal Rule 26 disclosure, claim construction, use of experts and infringement and invalidation contention disclosure.
About Henry Sneath
Admitted: 1984, Pennsylvania
Professional Webpage: www.psmn.com/Bio/henrysneath.asp
Honors and Awards: AV Rating by Martindale Hubbell; Best Lawyers in America; Super Lawyers; Academy of Trial Lawyers
Bar/Professional Activity: Chair of Pennsylvania Bar Association Intellectual Property Section
Pro bono/Community Service: I provide pro bono representation of battered women in Protection from Abuse proceedings and trials
Scholarly Lectures and Writings: Argument was heard before the United States Supreme Court on Monday, November 9, 2009 in the potential landmark patent case,
In re Bilski. (appeal from 545 F.3d 943, 88 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1385, Fed. Cir. 2008). Disappointed patent applicant Bernard Bilski appealed the USPTO's denial of patent protection to his claimed method of managing the consumption risk in commodity trading. Bilski's method, involved no software, no hardware, and no algorithms. The USPTO Examiner rejected the patent claims stating that "the invention is not implemented on a specific apparatus and merely manipulates an abstract idea and solves a purely mathematical problem without any limitation to a practical application, and therefore, the invention is not directed to the technological arts." In other words, it is not a thing!, Author,
In Re Bilski: Will it be a Blockbuster?, 2009
Verdicts and Settlements: See my detailed CV attached
Educational Background: Hamilton College AB Degree 1980; Duquesne University School of Law JD Degree 1983