Dave Bir is a skilled patent attorney with experience in patent preparation and prosecution as well as opinion and post-grant work. Dave's practice focuses primarily on U.S. and international patent preparation, prosecution, opinion work, and patent litigation in the computer software, electrical, and mechanical arts. Dave has prepared and prosecuted patents that have been successfully enforced resulting in both settlements and multi-million dollar damages awarded by a jury and affirmed on appeal. Having written patents scrutinized by opposing counsel, trial and appeals courts, and a jury, in addition to testifying during trial and associated depositions provides Dave with unique experience and perspective that is applied in drafting every patent application. Prior to joining Brooks Kushman, Dave acquired significant engineering experience in Manufacturing and Product Engineering with General Motors Powertrain Division including networking and troubleshooting of industrial machine controls, prototype machining of automatic transmission components, and design and calibration of automatic transmission software and hardware. Dave's undergraduate thesis was directed to a communication network for a manufacturing facility using manufacturing automation protocol (MAP). After receiving his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering (Minor in Applied Optics), Dave was awarded a General Motors Fellowship to pursue a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering majoring in Electro-optics with a Minor in Artificial Intelligence where he gained experience with various cognitive architectures, programming languages and production systems. Dave's legal education and technical interests led to a published Law Review article addressing the patentability of software during his tenure as a Note and Comment editor for the Wayne Law Review. In his spare time, David enjoys exploring and traveling, from beaches, canyons and mountains, to the variety of culinary and cultural destinations, particularly theater and concerts. He also enjoys attempting to play the piano, especially new age and jazz/improv pieces.