Ralph E. Locher was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, USA. He has lived in Florida since 1996 and makes his home in Cooper City together with his wife Shelly and their children Tonya, Kristie, and Nicholas. Mr. Locher received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Northern Illinois University, 1983, B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale in 1986, and a Juris Doctorate in Law from St. Louis University (cum laude 1994).
Mr. Locher is a member of the Florida Bar, the Illinois Bar, the Missouri Bar, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Locher was one of Florida’s first board certified intellectual property law attorneys. Mr. Locher is a member of the American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law Association of Florida and has specialized in only intellectual property matters since 1996.
Mr. Locher specializes in intellectual property law, patents, trademarks, patent interference, patent appeals, and international patent prosecution. Mr. Locher is conversational in German. His primary areas of expertise are in engineering, with an emphasis on discrete components, circuits, integrated circuits, and semiconductor device manufacture; thermodynamic processes, including fluid flow, power plant processes, heat exchange, and energy conversion; exhaust gas purification (filtering, catalytic conversion); nuclear technology, coatings; electromagnetic devices (sensors, actuators, motors), digital and analog signal processing, communications (telecommunications apparatus and signal processing; computer engineering, including software, hardware, and process modeling; digital logic circuitry, digital/analog interfaces; high temperature superconductivity, optics systems; and automotive technology, including exhaust systems and exhaust gas purification, control systems, transmission and engine control, safety systems, and automotive electronics.
Before venturing into patent law Mr. Locher was an aerospace engineer at Boeing/McDonnell Douglas Corporation for nine years where he worked on electronic systems for F-15 and F-18 fighter aircraft. In addition, Mr. Locher has two years general management experience with Pepsico Corporation, Pizza Hut division.