M. Bruce Harper

Bruce Harper assists clients with evaluating inventions and creative works, technology licensing, intellectual property protection issues including patent prosecution, research and development agreements at university and government laboratories, interinstitutional agreements, software and internet issues, and other government contracts. His primary technical field is electromechanical engineering.

Bruce Harper assists clients with evaluating inventions and creative works, technology licensing, intellectual property protection issues including patent prosecution, research and development agreements at university and government laboratories, interinstitutional agreements, software and internet issues, and other government contracts. His primary technical field is electromechanical engineering.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Harper was intellectual property manager at Old Dominion University, where he was responsible for all aspects of the technology transfer program. In addition, he performed patent prosecution for the office of the patent counsel at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. For nine years, Mr. Harper was a nuclear engineer and naval officer with the U.S. Navy, including tours that involved the testing of a new construction aircraft carrier nuclear power plants and the contractual oversight of a complex refueling and overhaul.

Mr. Harper is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and the Association of University Technology Managers. Mr. Harper is recognized as one of Virginia’s “Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine. He is general counsel to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and also serves as a commander with the U.S. Naval Reserve.

A 1984 engineering graduate of Duke University, Mr. Harper received a master’s degree in engineering management from Old Dominion University in 1993, focusing on operations research and reliability engineering. He earned his law degree in 1996 from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, where he was issue editor of the ABA Administrative Law Review and associate editor of the Environmental Law and Policy Review.