Joseph W. Staley

Joseph W. "Joe" Staley — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Specialty / focus. Staley is a partner in the litigation group at Perilla Knox & Hildebrandt LLP (PKH), an Atlanta IP boutique. His practice spans patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright litigation, with heavy concentration in mechanical and consumer-product technologies — dual-fuel generators and power equipment (Champion Power Equipment), juvenile products/strollers (Baby Jogger v. Mockingbird), plus electrical/computer/software matters. He also counsels on patent and trademark prosecution, licensing, and IP strategy. Firm materials list his industries as mechanical, consumer products, and electrical/computer/software.

Side / firm context. His tracked docket is defendant-leaning (9 of 12 appearances, including lead roles for Champion Power Equipment against Harbor Freight Tools, Generac, and MWE Investments), but he works both sides: he leads plaintiff-side enforcement for Baby Generation/Mockingbird against Baby Jogger and appears as petitioner's lead counsel in IPRs. Before PKH he was VP of Legal at Atlanta-based Kids II Inc., a partner at Atlanta IP boutique Gardner Groff, PC, and a USPTO patent examiner — a path that explains his dual litigation/prosecution profile.

Notable matters / PTAB-IPR experience. IPR work is a core, recurring part of his practice. He is lead counsel for patent owner Champion Power Equipment across roughly 13 IPRs filed by Generac, Harbor Freight, and MWE challenging Champion's dual-fuel generator patents (e.g., IPR2025-00805, IPR2025-01272); PKH reports that all 11 institution decisions to date were victories, including two PTAB institution decisions vacated by USPTO Director John Squires on director review based on inconsistent claim-construction positions — a result covered by Law360 ("Squires Rules Inconsistent Claim Constructions Doom 3 IPRs," Feb. 2026). He is also lead counsel for petitioner Baby Generation in IPR2025-01095 against Baby Jogger's stroller patents, and appeared as counsel for the patent owner in Unified Patents v. Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC. Related district-court matters include Baby Jogger v. Baby Generation (D. Del., 1:24-cv-00725-GBW) and the Champion–Generac/Harbor Freight litigation (e.g., E.D. Wis. 24-cv-01281; C.D. Cal. declaratory judgment action).

Credentials. Georgia Bar No. 142571; USPTO Reg. No. 60,732; admitted to the Federal, Eleventh, and Ninth Circuits and multiple district courts. B.S. in mechanical engineering from Auburn University (first in class); J.D. from Emory University School of Law (2005), including a joint program with Georgia Tech on startup/emerging-technology commercialization. Recognized by Best Lawyers in Litigation–Intellectual Property and Patent Law since 2023.