Why Critical Path

Experience that boosts and protects your IP value

Engineer and business executive with 20 years' experience in tech innovation and business growth at places like NASA, Boeing, and UC Berkeley

Drafted and prosecuted over 250 patents for a wide array of clients, to include global commercial electronics companies, local and global aerospace companies, an electric automobile manufacturer, small r&d companies, and entrepreneurs

Fourteen years of patent outside counsel experience

Colorado Super Lawyers' recognition for twelve consecutive years

Registered to practice before the USPTO since 2008

Registered Professional Engineer in Colorado and California

Tech and legal analysis by Critical Path IP Law

Navigating-the Legal-Challenges-and Opportunities of Space Data Businesses, Space Symposium, Colorado Springs, CO, co-author Karri Palmetier, April 8, 2019.
Deorbiting Your Own Intellectual Property Fight, Client Alert, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, co-author Lisa Hogan, Apr. 12, 2017.
Licensing Guideline Considerations, Law Week Colorado, Dec. 1, 2014.
The New Patent Statute and Implications for Universities, Meeting of the Alumni Advisory Board, Univ. of Illinois Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, Oct. 18, 2013.
Panelist: “Inequitable Conduct Post-Therasense,” University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Oct. 2011.
Zelenka, R.E. “Gaining Perspective on Modern Patent Law Debates through Reflection on Colonial Beginnings,” Intellectual Property Today, Vol. 17, No. 4, Apr. 2010.
Zelenka, R.E., Quinn, C., Beatty, R., and Heere, K. “The Impact of CTAS Information on Airline Operational Control”, Air Traffic Control Association, Air Traffic Control Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2000.
Zelenka, R.E., Smith, P.N., Coppenbarger, R.A., Njaka, C.N., and Sridhar, B. “Results from the NASA Automated Nap-of-the-Earth Program,” Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Vol. 42, No. 2, Apr. 1997, pp. 107-115.
Zelenka, R.E., Almsted, L.A. “Design and Flight Test of 35-GigaHertz Radar for Terrain and Obstacle Avoidance,” AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 34, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1997, pp. 261-263.
Zelenka, R.E., Clark, R., Zirkler, A., Saari, R., and Branigan, R. “Development and Flight Test of Terrain-Referenced Guidance with Ladar Forward Sensor,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 19, No. 4, Jul.-Aug. 1996, pp. 823-828. (also reprinted in Cockpit, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Oct.-Dec. 1996, pp. 7-12.)
Zelenka, R.E., Yee, Z., and Zirkler, A., “Flight Test of Radar Altimeter Enhancement for Terrain-Referenced Guidance,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 18, No. 4, Jul.-Aug. 1995, pp. 702-708.
Zelenka, R.E., “Design and Analysis of a Kalman Filter for Terrain-referenced Positioning and Guidance,” AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 31, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1994, pp. 339-344.

Why Critical Path IP Law?

Experience that boosts and protects your IP value

Tech and legal analysis by Critical Path IP Law