James Mueller is a veteran patent researcher who is motivated daily to find the best prior art for his clients. James is an experienced patent researcher who has conducted several thousand novelty, clearance, invalidity and state-of-the-art searches. He works with the Brooks Kushman prosecution and litigation teams for prior art in patent prosecution, invalidity studies, and post-grant reviews. He is a registered patent practitioner (Agent) and assists the prosecution team with patent application matters. He is an active member of the Patent Information User Group (PIUG) and regularly attends PIUG educational webinars in order to stay current with the best practices of patent search methodology. He has a particular interest in understanding how artificial intelligence is impacting patent research. Prior to joining Brooks Kushman, James worked for nearly two decades at a leading patent research firm based near the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA.  Clients ranged from multinational corporations to leading law firms to individual inventors in a wide range of technologies such as automotive components, medical devices, manufacturing processes, and educational products. He also provided management and mentoring to new employees in developing and executing effective search strategies. Before becoming a patent researcher, James began his career an analyst at a leading information and analytics company specializing in legal, regulatory, and business data services. He then spent several formative years as a systems analyst, project manager, and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at a prominent telecommunications company. He completed the scientific and technical training requirements for the USPTO Registration Examination in physics at George Mason University. In addition, he holds a master’s degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware. In James’ spare time, he enjoys travelling with his wife and daughters, playing golf, and going on outings with the family boxer Leo.