Manzo is a founder of Cook, Alex, McFarron, Manzo, Cummings & Mehler, Ltd. (“Cook Alex”), an IP law firm in Chicago dedicated exclusively to providing a full range of intellectual property and technology-related legal services. In over 30 years of practicing IP law, Manzo’s legal experience covers all areas of IP law including litigating, advising, negotiating, strategic planning, expert witnessing, opinion-writing, licensing, along with patent prosecution. He has worked in electronics, computers, telecommunications, semiconductors, pattern recognition, advanced physics, medical technology, consumer appliances, and many other technologies. He was one of the attorneys in the very first appeal from the District Court to the Federal Circuit, and he has worked on many subsequent Federal Circuit appeals.

Mr. Manzo is a leader in the area of patent claim construction and was principal counsel for the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC) as amicus curiae in Phillips v. AWH Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2005 en banc) (patent claim construction) and ITW v. Independent Ink (S. Ct. 2006) (patent/anti-trust presumptions). He originated and has been the editor-in-chief since 2001 of this annual review of claim construction law.

A graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (BS Physics, 1972) and the (SUNY) University at Buffalo Law School (1975), Mr. Manzo he is admitted to the bars of New York, Illinois, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has published or spoken about a wide variety of patent topics, including claim construction, willful infringement, damages, licensing, the enablement vs. written description requirements, appellate review of claim constructions, design patents, laches and estoppel, means-plus-function claims, patent examiner testimony, IP law relating to competition for retail space, and general principles of IP law.

Mr. Manzo serves on a number of boards, including the Association of Patent Law Firms (APLF) and IPLAC, where he previously chaired its litigation committee, and the advisory board for DePaul Law School’s Center for IP and Law on Information Technology. He serves on the Patents Subcommittee of the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee for the Seventh Circuit (2006) and is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Illinois Superlawyers, Leading Lawyers in Illinois, and elsewhere.