Amanda leverages vast experience inside government to counsel clients facing various intellectual property and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) disputes. Amanda’s legal and technical reasoning, advocacy skills, and her experience as a judge and senior policy advisor make her a go-to resource for these high stakes matters.
Amanda spent nearly ten years a PTAB Administrative Patent Judge, and served in various senior leadership positions including as Lead Judge, acting Senior Lead Judge, and acting Vice Chief Judge. Amanda presided over hundreds of PTAB proceedings and helped shape PTAB policy. For example, Amanda was instrumental in developing a sustainable Director Review process to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Arthrex and to afford PTAB parties an opportunity for review of their decisions by a Senate-confirmed principal officer. Amanda also developed the PTAB’s Legal Experience and Advancement Program, which supports the career development of newer patent practitioners.
Prior to her appointment as a PTAB judge, Amanda practiced patent litigation before U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the PTAB. Amanda has a degree in biomedical engineering and began her career as a Patent Examiner.
Amanda is a respected thought leader who has devoted considerable time to public messaging on PTAB policies and procedures, especially regarding review of PTAB decisions, the impact of PTAB precedent, and oral and written advocacy skills.
“I see my role as that of a translator on behalf of my clients, taking technical arguments about the patents at issue and translating them into a more accessible and compelling package that a judge or jury can understand. Having drafted hundreds of judicial opinions, I know how to package arguments in the way most judges prefer to receive them.”
Experience
- Representation in PTAB inter partes review proceedings.
- Representation of national research university in pharmaceutical licensing dispute.
- Representation of national financial institution in district court patent infringement litigation.
- Counseling of various clients on patent policy, patent valuation, and patent due diligence issues.
- Counseling of various clients on appellate arguments at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Speaker, "Patent Trial & Appeal Board: Updates in Practice from Former Administrative Patent Judges," 2025 ABA-IPL Section Annual Meeting, April 30, 2025
- Speaker, "PTAB Perspectives: Behind the Scenes of Patent Trials," Practising Law Institute, Patent Law Institute 2025: Critical Issues & Best Practices, April 10, 2025
- Speaker, "Former APJs Panel," PTAB Bar Association Annual Conference – General Session, March 21, 2025
- Speaker, "LEAP the Barriers to PTAB Involvement," PTAB Bar Association webinar, February 29, 2024
- Speaker, "An inside View of Operations of PTAB, the Director Review process for PTAB decisions, and the Legal Experience and Advancement Program (LEAP)," Pittsburgh IP Association, Pittsburgh, PA, November 15, 2023
- Speaker, PTAB Bar Association Thought Leader Summit, Alexandria, VA, October 5, 2023
- Speaker, "Practice Before the PTAB, Part I: Changes to the Director Review Procedures and Discretionary Denial Practice," UT Law CLE – 18th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute, Alexandria, VA, March 23, 2023
- Speaker, PTAB Bar Association Thought Leader Summit, Alexandria, VA, November 8, 2022
- Speaker, "PTAB Trial Committee: Variety Hour – Options after a Final Written Decision," AIPLA Annual Meeting, National Harbor, MD, October 27, 2022
- Speaker, "LEAP Program Discussion and Mock Oral Argument," PTAB Bar Association Annual Conference, September 23, 2021
- Speaker, "LEAP," NYIPLA PTAB Committee Monthly Virtual Meeting webinar, May 4, 2021
- Speaker, "Judges' Panel: An Inside Perspective on Institution Discretion Factors," PTAB Bar Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, September 24, 2020
- Author, "A Former PTAB Judge Weighs The End Of Remote Hearings," Law360, August 19, 2025
- Author, Role of USPTO’s Delegated Rehearing Panel Changing With New Administration, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 24, 2025
- Author, Perfecting Expert Testimony at PTAB, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 12, 2025
- Author, PTAB by the Numbers: Petitions and Director Review Requests Trending up, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, January 31, 2025
- Author, Federal Circuit: Published Patent Applications Available as Prior Art in IPRs as of Filing Date, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, January 15, 2025
- Author, "Four Key Takeaways From PTAB’s New Director Review Rules," IP Litigator, November/December 2024
- Author, "Examining Vidal’s Guidance On PTAB Section 315 Time Bar," Law360, December 13, 2024
- Author, MIT Study Aligns With USPTO’s Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in Material Science Industry, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, December 4, 2024
- Author, USPTO Director Provides Guidance on PTAB’s § 315 Time Bar Analyses, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, November 25, 2024
- Author, Four Key Takeaways From PTAB’s New Director Review Rules, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, October 9, 2024
- Co-author, The EU Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court: Simplicity and Standardization, Challenge, and Opportunity, Intell. Prop. & Tech. L. J., April 2013
- Author, Secondary Considerations Should Be Given Increased Weight in Obviousness Inquiries Under 35 U.S.C. §103 in the Post-KSR v. Teleflex World, 17 Fed. Cir. B.J. 665, 2008
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William & Mary Law SchoolJD
Member, William and Mary Law Review
2009 -
Vanderbilt UniversityBEBiomedical Engineering
Dean’s List
2002
Member, PTAB Bar Association
Member, American Association of Patent Judges
Member, Intellectual Property Editorial Advisory Board, Law360, 2025
- Guest, "Patent Investment Strategies, With Amanda Wieker," The Corner Series, July 21, 2025