Craig Deutsch

I'll research this attorney before writing the summary.

Craig A. Deutsch — Principal, Fish & Richardson P.C. (Twin Cities/Minneapolis office)

Specialty and focus. Deutsch is a patent practitioner whose practice, per Fish & Richardson, centers on patents "with a primary emphasis on defending and invalidating patents in post-grant proceedings," i.e., PTAB work. His tracked matters and public PTAB filings span electrical/computer hardware (multi-chip modules, FPGAs, A/D conversion — the Xilinx v. Sentient Sensors IPR over U.S. Patent 6,938,177), geospatial/aerial-imagery software (the EagleView v. Nearmap roof-estimation patent family), and design patents (auto parts in the GM/LKQ dispute). He also has a visible design-patent niche, co-authoring Law360's "How to Succeed in Design Patent Cases at the PTAB" (2022) and speaking on the PTAB's treatment of anticipation, obviousness, and § 112 in design cases. USPTO registration data also shows prosecution-side involvement across a broad electronics portfolio (LG Electronics, Samsung, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, Saudi Aramco, Mayo Clinic), suggesting he handles prosecution and portfolio work alongside litigation, though that applicant data reflects firm-level filings and should not be read as his personal docket.

Side preference. The tracked list splits 3 plaintiff / 2 defendant, but in PTAB terms that split largely reflects petition posture rather than NPE enforcement. He most often appears as back-up or additional counsel for operating-company petitioners challenging patents — Xilinx/AMD, Nearmap, and (per USPTO mandatory notices) Apple in IPR2024-00807 — while also defending patent owners, most notably General Motors in the LKQ design-patent challenges. On the same EagleView/Nearmap dispute he appears on both sides across parallel district-court and IPR matters. Net: a defense-side litigator who regularly mounts invalidity challenges for technology companies rather than an NPE/PAE enforcement practice.

Firm context. All tracked appearances are at Fish & Richardson, where he is a principal; no prior-firm history for his patent litigation career was reliably identified in public sources, and he does not appear to be in-house.

Notable cases and outcomes. (1) LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Technology Operations — Deutsch was on the Fish team named 2022 "Attorneys of the Year" by Minnesota Lawyer for GM's PTAB defense; the firm reported protecting 23 of 25 challenged GM design patents, though the related appeal ultimately proceeded and the Federal Circuit's en banc LKQ decision (2024) changed the design-patent obviousness framework, so the client-side win was not final. (2) Eagle View Technologies v. Nearmap US — the PTAB found claims of U.S. Patents 8,670,961 and 8,078,436 obvious; the Federal Circuit affirmed on Feb. 3, 2026 (No. 24-1488); the parallel Utah district case (2:21-cv-00283) was stayed pending PTO/Federal Circuit proceedings. (3) Sentient Sensors LLC v. Xilinx, Inc. (IPR2023-00195) — the Board found the challenged claims unpatentable and the Federal Circuit affirmed in a Rule 36 judgment on April 10, 2026.

PTAB/IPR experience. This is his core practice, not an occasional sideline — he appears repeatedly as back-up counsel on IPR petitions, and in Nearmap v. EagleView the Board's final written decision was vacated and remanded on the petitioner's request for Director Review (a notable procedural result in the client's favor at that stage). Tracked-role labels (back-up counsel, additional counsel) indicate he is typically a supporting rather than lead advocate.

Bar / education. Registered to practice before the USPTO (Reg. No. 69,264); Minnesota-based. Law school and bar admissions could not be verified from reliable public sources, so they are omitted here.