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Taboada Law Firm: The San Antonio Patent Practice Built by an Engineer Who Started His Own Tech Company First

Most patent attorneys learn a client’s technology secondhand. John M. Taboada built his understanding of intellectual property the other way around — he co-founded a high-tech instrument company while finishing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, ran it for over a decade, and only then went to law school specifically because he had already lived the problem his future clients would bring him.

Origin and Background

Taboada Law Firm, PLLC is located at 1929 North New Braunfels Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78208, confirmed through the firm’s own website. Dr. John M. Taboada co-founded Taboada Research Instruments, Inc. in 1999 while completing his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, which he received in 2000, before earning his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. He is a registered patent attorney before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is fluent in Spanish.

Practice Concentration

The firm is a solo, specialized intellectual property practice covering IP counseling, patent preparation and prosecution, trademark registration, licensing, and mediation. Dr. Taboada’s technical focus has centered on advanced optics and lasers and the mechanical arts, extending into software technology, entertainment, design, and consumer products, serving industries including computer and software technology, consumer products, entertainment, defense, mechanical arts, medical devices, optics and lasers, and robotics. See this San Antonio Intellectual Property directory for how this engineer-turned-patent-attorney solo practice compares to multi-attorney IP boutiques and large-firm satellite offices also serving Bexar County.

Notable Work / Track Record

As a solo patent prosecution practice, Taboada Law Firm does not publish a table of settlement or verdict figures, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one — patent prosecution work is measured in applications filed and patents issued rather than litigated dollar outcomes, and prosecution-stage work product is not typically public until a patent issues. What is independently verifiable is Dr. Taboada’s decade-plus operating history as co-founder of an actual technology company prior to practicing law, a background distinct from attorneys who move directly from engineering coursework into legal practice without operating a business built on the IP they later protect.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published, itemized set of attributed client reviews for Taboada Law Firm across major review platforms as of this profile’s research date. This is consistent with a low-volume solo prosecution practice rather than evidence of client dissatisfaction, but it is a genuine gap in independently verifiable client feedback that a prospective client should weigh alongside the firm’s technical credentials.

Beyond the Courtroom

Dr. Taboada volunteers his time with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s San Antonio Small Business Legal Clinic and with the Bexar County Dispute Resolution Center, providing pro bono legal support and mediation services to the local small business and dispute-resolution community. Awesome Attorneys did not identify additional documented board or civic service beyond these two organizations.

Recognition for This San Antonio IP Attorney

Awesome Attorneys did not identify Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification for Dr. Taboada and does not apply “specialist” language on that basis — and separately notes that TBLS does not currently offer a distinct board-certification track for intellectual property law at all in Texas. Dr. Taboada’s most concrete, independently verifiable credential is his USPTO patent attorney registration, a federal requirement to prosecute patents that not every general-practice attorney advertising IP services holds.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Patent prosecution proceeds under federal law before the USPTO rather than Texas state law, which is why USPTO registration — verified separately from Texas Bar licensure — is the threshold qualification for the patent preparation and prosecution work that makes up the core of this practice. Trademark registration can proceed at the federal level through the USPTO or at the state level through the Texas Secretary of State depending on the scope of use, and licensing agreements drafted for Texas-based inventors are generally governed by Texas contract law unless the parties specify otherwise. None of this is legal advice; a specific patent, trademark, or licensing matter should be evaluated by a licensed, USPTO-registered attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Taboada Law Firm’s clearest differentiator is Dr. Taboada’s dual background as both a practicing engineer and a technology company founder before becoming a patent attorney, which gives him direct operating experience with the commercialization pressures that drive many of his clients’ patent decisions. The honest trade-off is that, as a solo practice, Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published record of independently attributed client reviews, and capacity is inherently more limited than a multi-attorney firm. For a San Antonio inventor in optics, lasers, mechanical devices, or software who wants a patent attorney who has personally run a technology company rather than only studied one, that combination is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Taboada Law Firm’s own website (firm overview, attorney biography, practice and industry pages), John M. Taboada’s Justia and Avvo attorney directory listings, and the LII Cornell Texas attorney directory.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Taboada Law Firm, PLLC prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.