Robert D. Tomlinson

Robert D. Tomlinson — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Robert D. "Bob" Tomlinson is a veteran Oklahoma City trial lawyer whose patent work sits within a broader complex-litigation practice covering IP, product liability, antitrust, environmental, and business disputes. His patent matters skew heavily mechanical/industrial, consistent with his pre-law engineering career (mechanical engineer at Sandia Corp. and Charles Machine Works, maker of Ditch Witch equipment) and his firm's client base of Oklahoma manufacturers — including Kerr Machine Co., a maker of oil-and-gas high-pressure frac-pump fluid ends. His tracked docket shows one appearance, Unified Patents v. Kerr Machine Co., on the defendant side; firm materials also list both plaintiff-side and defense-side patent engagements (e.g., patent infringement suits for a construction equipment manufacturer and defense of a building equipment manufacturer). The tracked data and client profile indicate a practice defending operating companies/manufacturers, with no NPE/PAE plaintiff-side work.

He is Of Counsel at Tomlinson McKinstry, P.C. in Oklahoma City (founded 2005; earlier firm iterations include Tomlinson Rust McKinstry Grable), where he has practiced for decades. The firm handles both patent prosecution and litigation, with recent issued-patent volume concentrated in mechanical technology centers and clients including Kerr Machine and Charles Machine Works.

On notable outcomes, the result in the tracked Unified Patents matter was not verifiable from available sources. His best-documented trial results are outside patents: lead defense and liaison counsel for Philip Morris in Oklahoma's Medicaid cost-recovery suit, and PRP defense counsel in the Hardage Superfund site trial (remedy affirmed on appeal, with reported client savings over $100 million). Regarding PTAB/IPR experience, no reliable evidence shows Tomlinson personally appearing regularly in IPR/PGR proceedings; his tracked matter is district-court litigation, and Kerr's related PTAB petitions in the wider fluid-end dispute were handled by other counsel (e.g., Susman Godfrey).

Bar / education: B.S. (1964) and M.S. (1969) in mechanical engineering, Oklahoma State University; J.D., Oklahoma City University (1975); licensed in Oklahoma since 1975 and admitted to the Federal Circuit, Tenth Circuit, and U.S. Supreme Court.