Dr. Rohlicek’s ability to quickly grasp inventors’ technologies and their commercial significance and to shape conceptual inventions into an effective patent strategy is trusted by the most selective R&D groups in early-stage and mature companies, as well as academic institutions. His 50-year history in technology fields spans mathematics and software algorithms to applications of machine learning, probability theory, and signal processing to signals intelligence, automative telematics, and telecommunications.
Dr. Rohlicek keeps pace with rapidly evolving technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, where he can often foresee technology changes rather than merely following popular trends, and in which he maintains hands-on skills. Through these varied experiences he has developed a deep-rooted facility with diverse technologies fueled by the constant excitement of seeing how innovators envision new ways of doing things. He works directly with top-level executives and inventors to craft patent strategies without wasting his clients’ time in coming up to speed and has earned a stellar reputation in the technology offices of top universities. In addition to building commercially meaningful U.S. and international patent portfolios, he advises and prepares opinions on noninfringement, invalidity, and freedom to operate and advises on litigation strategy.
Dr. Rohlicek practiced for 18 years at Occhiuti & Rohlicek LLP, which he founded with other partners from Fish & Richardson P.C., where he previously practiced for 10 years.
Industry Experience
Prior to entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Rohlicek was programming number-theoretic algorithms on CDC 6000 and PDP 11 series computers as a research assistant. At MIT, he studied Electrical Engineering, focusing his Bachelor’s and Master’s work on signal processing, including work on auditory prostheses. His PhD work under Prof. Alan Willsky focused on large-scale probabilistic systems, with a minor program in Artificial Intelligence including expert systems and image and vision processing. During his time at MIT, he consulted in software development, including implementing real-time software-based speech recognition on a commodity PC AT personal computer.
Following his Ph.D. at MIT Dr. Rohlicek was a scientist for a decade working on speech and natural language technologies for both DoD and commercial applications including in the telecom and automotive fields, was an adjunct professor at Boston University, and ultimately served as Vice President of R&D and Vice President of Engineering at two Boston area companies. He published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in statistical speech recognition and related areas of machine learning and has served on IEEE Technical Committees and as a reviewer for numerous journals and technical conferences.