Burbage Law, PC · Salt Lake City
US patents for artificial intelligence and software.
Burbage Law is the practice of Jon Burbage, a registered patent attorney with roughly twenty years of prosecution experience and an engineering background. The firm prepares and prosecutes patent applications for machine learning, software and connected-systems inventions, argues eligibility, and represents applicants on appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
The problem the firm is built around
Eligibility is where artificial intelligence patents are won or lost.
Two things are true at once right now. The USPTO has moved to make software and machine learning claims easier to allow: the Director’s August 2025 memorandum narrowed the mental-process rejection and put examiners to a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, and the Appeals Review Panel decision in Ex parte Desjardins treated efficiency gains recited in a claim as a practical application.
The Federal Circuit has moved the other way. Recentive Analytics v. Fox, Rensselaer v. Amazon and Dental Monitoring v. Align all hold that applying a known model to a new data environment is abstract, and that better accuracy is not a technical improvement.
An application drafted only to get allowed is not necessarily an application that survives. The work this firm does is drafting one specification that satisfies both standards, and deciding, matter by matter, which fights are worth having in front of the examiner and which belong on appeal.
The Federal Circuit’s decisions on machine learning eligibility, with what was claimed and the court’s reason in each, are collected in one table.
What the firm does
Prosecution, appeals, portfolios, and the counsel work around them.
Patent preparation and prosecution
Drafting and prosecuting utility applications for machine learning systems, software architectures, distributed and vehicular systems, hardware, and designs.
Includes continuation strategy, examiner interviews, and the 35 U.S.C. § 101 and § 112 record that decides whether a claim holds up later.
Appeals and PTAB practice
Appeal briefs, reply briefs, and oral argument before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when an examiner will not be moved.
Portfolio management
Running a filing program against a product roadmap and a budget, including foreign filing decisions, annuities, and pruning.
The firm has managed portfolios for companies from single-founder startups through Fortune 500 subsidiaries.
Searching and opinions
Patentability, clearance and freedom-to-operate searching, and intellectual property due diligence for acquisitions and venture financings.
Outside general counsel
For software and artificial intelligence startups: intellectual property strategy, commercial contracts, trade secret and employment matters, and the board-level questions that come with them.
Representative portfolios
Companies whose patent work Jon Burbage has handled.
Across this practice and prior firms, including Fenwick & West. Listing a company identifies work performed; it is not a statement that the company endorses the firm.
- Toyota
- YouTube
- Toyota InfoTechnology Center USA
- Taut AI
- SalesHood
- Pale Blue Earth
- Jaunt VR
- Grokker
- Progress Software
- ShoreTel
- Skullcandy
342 United States patents have issued from applications Jon Burbage wrote, 240 of them for Toyota companies and 48 for Jaunt VR. The full list, grouped by technology and linked to each patent, is on the Patents page.
From clients
What clients say about working with Jon.
I highly recommend Jon. He has been my trusted IP legal resource for over a decade. He understands how to translate complex technical innovations into broad, robust and defensible patent coverage and will strategically advise you on what to protect and what is best left as a trade secret.
Jon took the time to understand our technology and helped us secure patents for Meograph. He explained the tradeoffs clearly and shaped a practical strategy around our goals and budget. I especially appreciated his honesty about whether additional patent work would justify the investment.
One of Jon’s greatest strengths is the breadth of his knowledge of computer systems. He has a substantial understanding of both software and hardware, and what stands out to me is his ability to move intuitively between those layers when analyzing a problem. He can break down a complex technical issue, understand how its different components interact, and approach it from the perspective of the system as a whole rather than looking at any one component in isolation.
That range of knowledge, combined with his ability to analyze problems across multiple technical layers, is one of his strongest professional gifts.
Published with the permission of each person quoted. These statements do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter.