Doug Meier is an experienced patent attorney and managing partner of NK Patent Law. With a background in electrical engineering and in-depth experience practicing patent law, Doug brings a unique combination of legal and technical experience that allows him to understand complex electrical, computer, and software technologies quickly.
Before becoming a patent lawyer, Doug worked as an electrical engineer for a major defense contractor in Houston, Texas, where he designed and developed software tools to support NASA’s Space Shuttle Program.
Doug’s practice focuses on patent prosecution before the USPTO and IP strategy and general guidance on other patent-related business issues.
Having experience with various electrical technologies covering smartphones, computers, wireless communications, networking, semiconductors, and digital image processing, Doug has represented numerous small and large companies.
Doug loves helping clients develop strategic patent portfolios covering a wide variety of technology areas. However, he understands that patent protection is often just one aspect of a larger, multi-faceted business strategy. As a result, he looks for ways to maximize business value through patent assets.
Doug has represented numerous multi-national companies in high-stakes, multiple-patent cases at the International Trade Commission (ITC) involving technologies ranging from computers, mobile devices, telecommunications, and networking hardware (including base-station antenna and radio technology), wireless communications (such as 3G/4G/LTE, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth standards), texture compression/decompression in mobile devices and computers, digital image processing in smartphone cameras, and nonvolatile memory.
Additionally, he has been involved in all aspects of litigation, including working closely with clients to manage discovery across multiple related cases, working closely with technical experts on complex infringement and validity issues, and depositions and briefings of all types.
- J.D. with honors, University of Texas School of Law
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Texas – Austin
Emphasis in high-level software design and programming
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- District of Columbia
- Texas
- Western District of North Carolina
- Middle District of North Carolina
- Eastern District of North Carolina
Legal 500 U.S. Elite (2025)
Best Lawyers® in America – Intellectual Property (2025, 2026)
Business North Carolina Legal Elite (2023, 2025-26)
- The Bakewell Foundation
- Board of Directors, Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
- Association for Corporate Growth
- North Carolina Bar Association
Patent Prosecution
- Assisted a mobile-technology company with building an expansive patent portfolio covering network traffic and device management with 100+ patents across dozens of patent families.
- Assisted a FinTech software company with building an industry-specific patent portfolio with numerous issued patents.
- Assisted a wireless-technology company with building a significant patent portfolio with numerous issued patents covering numerous innovations in mobile-device technology.
- Assisted a group of data scientists with patent applications related to a new programming language for complex mathematical modeling.
- Assisted an electron-microscopy company with building a significant patent portfolio with dozens of patents and patent applications covering numerous cutting-edge aspects of electron microscopy.
- Assisted an AgTech startup with numerous patents around state-of-the-art indoor-farming systems.
- Assisted an individual inventor with defending petitions for Inter Partes Review (IPR) filed by industry leaders on two different patents covering solar-energy technology, with the PTAB denying institution on both patents.
Patent Litigation
- Represented a new startup company in district court against claims of patent infringement related to clock-management systems for sporting events brought by an incumbent industry competitor.
- Represented a manufacturer of fishing lures in district court against claims of patent infringement and trade-dress infringement by an industry-dominant competitor company.
- Represented a manufacturer of aircraft ground-support equipment in district court against claims of patent infringement by a larger competitor company.
- Represented a multi-national communications company in a multiple-patent ITC investigation involving a wide variety of smartphone, tablet, and laptop computer technologies.
- Represented a memory-chip maker in a multiple-patent ITC investigation involving design of nonvolatile memory products.
- Represented a multi-national communications company in an ITC investigation related to LTE base-station communications technology.
- Represented a major smartphone/tablet manufacturer in a multiple-patent ITC investigation relating to wireless communications of LTE-enabled smartphones and tablets.
- Represented a computer-graphics and mobile-technology company in a multiple-patent ITC investigation relating to texture compression and decompression (i.e., graphics processing) in smartphones, tablets, and computers.
- Represented a major smartphone manufacturer in an ITC investigation relating to digital image processing in smartphone cameras.