Richard W. Miller

Rich Miller leads Ballard Spahr’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group and serves as managing partner of its Atlanta office and a member of the firm’s Senior Leadership Team. His practice centers on patent disputes, drawing on his background in engineering as well as his experience as a patent litigator and counselor.

Rich has handled dozens of patent infringement cases involving a wide range of technologies in federal district courts across the United States. He has taken cases through trial before the International Trade Commission and argued appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His IP litigation experience also extends to copyright, trademark, trade dress and trade secret disputes. In addition, he has handled numerous design patent cases, including several involving the retail and fashion industry.

Alongside litigation, Rich advises clients on patent issues that arise before or outside a dispute. His counseling work includes analyzing and responding to demand letters, conducting patent due diligence for product releases, reviewing portfolios, and providing opinions and advice on infringement and validity. This work allows him to address patent questions from both litigation and counseling perspectives while considering how legal issues relate to a client’s business model.

Before joining Ballard Spahr, Rich worked as a software engineer and designer. His work included developing automated testing equipment for the semiconductor industry.

• Defended a major manufacturer of smart electric meters and several of its utility customers in a patent infringement suit, obtaining summary judgment ruling that reduced exposure in the case by roughly 95 percent.
• Defended a cable television and media company in a multidistrict litigation case relating to optical networking technology.
• Served on the lead counsel team for a leading lingerie brand in an infringement case related to wearable technology successfully defeating a preliminary injunction motion, which Rich argued. The case was dismissed shortly thereafter.

• Represented a specialty retailer in a design patent and trade dress infringement case relating to the design and trade dress of bottles for liquid hand soap products. The defendant pulled the infringing products from the market.
• Represented a designer, manufacturer and marketer of tools in a multi-party patent infringement matter in which the patent-at-issue relates to systems using interactive electronic representations of advertising images as means to measure the effectiveness of the particular advertising image.
• Defended a leading lingerie brand in a patent infringement suit involving gel shaping inserts for bras, bringing an early summary judgment motion on the issue of intervening rights.
• Cambridge University Press et al. v. Patton et al. In that case, the district court ruled that GSU's use of alleged copyrighted works was largely protected by the doctrine of fair use, that GSU would not be enjoined from using the alleged infringed works, and that the publisher plaintiffs must pay GSU's attorneys' fees.

• University of South Carolina School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2006)
  Associate Editor-in-Chief, South Carolina Law Review
  Order of the Coif and Order of the Wig and Robe
  Recipient, Compleat Lawyer Award
• University of Arizona (B.S., computer engineering, 1998)

• Georgia
• South Carolina
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit

• Chambers USA, Intellectual Property (Georgia), 2023-2026
• The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation - Intellectual Property (Atlanta), 2024-2027
• IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, litigation, 2021-2026
• Managing Intellectual Property, "Patent Star," 2024-2026
• Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, Arts Volunteer of the Year, 2023

• Georgia Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section, Past Chair
• Atlanta Intellectual Property Inn of Court, President
• Contributor, 11th Circuit Trademark Model Jury Instructions
• Taught portions of courses in intellectual property litigation at Emory University School of Law, Georgia State University, and Mercer University
• Certified Instructor, National Institute of Trial Advocacy

Chapter Author, "Foundations of Intellectual Property Law," Artificial Intelligence & Intellectual Property, 2025

Author, "Supreme Court Increases the Risk of Big Damage Awards," Fulton County Daily Report, In-House Georgia, January 9, 2017  

Co-author, "Feasibility of a Global Patent System," Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, Legal Affairs, Vol. 30, No. 19, November 1, 2010

"Simmons v. Greenville Hospital: An Unusually Stringent Rule Against Retroactive Legislation," 56 S.C. L. Rev. 707, 2005