PERSONAL PROFILE Ernest H. McCoy graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He served in the United States Army Transportation Corps as an Officer Graduate from ROTC. After the Army, he moved to California and went to work for FMC Corporation as a mechanical engineer before entering law school.

Mr. McCoy received his LLB from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, at Berkeley. After graduation he went to work for the University of California Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. There he was trained as and became a registered patent lawyer. He left there to go to work for a small arms rocket manufacturer to help solve their patent problems.

In 1965, Mr. McCoy joined the venerable Charles O. Bruce in the private practice of intellectual property (IP) law in Berkeley, California, and became senior partner of the firm of Bruce & McCoy when Mr. Bruce passed away five years later. Under Mr. McCoy's leadership, the firm moved to Oakland and has employed as many as five attorneys. After years of involvement in extended litigation, while still continually writing and prosecuting patent applications, Mr. McCoy has now limited his practice to preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patents for individuals and businesses.

By having substantially reduced his overhead and administrative responsibilities, and in view of his extensive patent preparation and prosecution experience, the firm of Bruce & McCoy is now able to pass on substantial savings to clients in the form of lower patent preparation and prosecution costs. However, Mr. McCoy is only able to provide services to a few new clients at a time and must reserve the right to be selective in whom he represents in view of his work backlog, the field of the applicant's invention, the demands of meeting time limits caused by Official Actions from the USPTO, and the needs of present clients.

Mr. McCoy specializes in mechanical and electo-mechanical devices, process and design patents, and computer driven devices and processes. He does not write or prosecute electrical/electronic, chemical composition, pharmaceutical, or biotechnology patents.