Jennifer M. Chagnon

Jennifer M. Chagnon is a Director in the Electronics Practice Group at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, with a practice primarily centered on the intersection of patent litigation and post-grant proceedings. Her expertise is significantly shaped by her nearly decade-long tenure at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), where she served as a Lead Administrative Patent Judge (APJ) from September 2013 to September 2022. In this role, she presided over more than 450 inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings, as well as ex parte appeals, becoming deeply familiar with PTAB rules and strategies.

Ms. Chagnon’s practice at Sterne Kessler focuses on assisting clients with PTAB challenges, developing litigation strategies that account for PTAB impact, and counseling on building robust patent portfolios. She handled cases across a broad spectrum of technologies as an APJ, including electrical, computer, chemical, mechanical, and biological arts. Prior to her time at the USPTO, her private practice experience included patent preparation and prosecution in areas such as semiconductor devices, photovoltaics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, optical recording systems, digital image processing, and mechanical devices. She also actively contributes to thought leadership regarding PTAB procedural changes, having co-authored articles on proposed IPR rule modifications.

In district court litigation, Ms. Chagnon has appeared on the defendant side, including in the case VideoLabs, Inc. v. Roku, Inc., where she served as Back-up Counsel. Within PTAB proceedings, her experience encompasses representing both patent owners defending their patents (e.g., in IPRs involving Netlist, Inc.) and petitioners challenging patents (e.g., for Zesty.ai, Inc.), reflecting her versatility in post-grant matters.

Ms. Chagnon earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, an M.S. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.