Paul Belnap

Paul H. Belnap is a Senior Associate in Duane Morris's Intellectual Property practice, focusing on complex patent litigation and prosecution. His practice spans diverse technologies including telecommunications, cloud computing, distributed computing, financial transactions, software, medical devices, electric power converters, mechanical actuators, lighting, network security, and wireless standards (e.g., 802.11, 3GPP, ADSL). Belnap leverages his background in mechanical engineering and physics, along with prior experience as a naval nuclear engineer, to provide technical insights in intellectual property matters.

Belnap primarily defends operating companies in patent infringement suits. His work includes representing clients in litigation that has led to summary judgment of non-infringement. The single tracked case, Proxense, LLC v. Apple, aligns with this defensive posture, where he appeared as counsel for the defendant at Duane Morris.

He has substantial experience in post-grant proceedings before the USPTO, including inter partes reviews (IPRs). Notably, Belnap served as the primary technical lead in successful IPRs challenging patents related to telephone call setup and transmission. He also represented Unified Patents in IPR2020-01708 against Monarch Networking Solutions LLC, where the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found all challenged claims unpatentable. His litigation experience includes obtaining summary judgment of noninfringement for networking clients such as CenturyTel Broadband Services, LLC and Qwest Corporation (now Lumen Technologies, Inc.) in cases concerning ADSL systems.

Belnap is admitted to practice in Washington, D.C., Virginia, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2018, an M.S. in Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2007, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 2006.