Patent Prosecution and Counseling

• File 3,500 – 4,000 applications every year
• Work directly with our clients’ engineers and programmers to implement ongoing patent filing programs
• Develop invention and innovation programs to provide incentives for engineers to identify patentable technology
• Organize and participate in invention committees to strategically evaluate technology and to proactively identify areas in which to focus patent protection
• Handle portfolio management—for U.S. patents and international patents—for leading technology companies in the United States and abroad
• Strong IP audit practice that regularly performs:
• Strategic analysis of patent portfolios
• Pre-acquisition and pre-investment due diligence
• Analysis of competitors' patent portfolios for license negotiations or avoidance of infringement
• Preparation of clearance opinions where appropriate
• Unparalleled deal support due to superior knowledge of technologies, which permits a direct interface with engineers and technical experts

Our Approaches to Patent Strategy

• Enhance efficiency and reduce costs through our innovative patent operations model, including providing routine patent services from our back office in Vermont and an entirely paperless system

• Include collaboration with management on design and implementation
  • Address business development, marketing, engineering and production interests in an integrated manner
  • Ensure mechanisms are in place for executive-level endorsement and inspiration to ensure successful implementation
  • Constant attention to cost-benefit balance of IP activity with goal that IP is seen as a profit center
  • Example: Developed internal procedure for immediate and regularized processing of patent demand letters, which reduced internal cost and stress, and shifted command of the situation in the company's favor
• Consider potential uses of patents
  • Defensive patents
  • Offensive patents
  • Technology development/exchange
  • Licensing
  • Considers what your competitors are doing
  • Strategies are two-sided: clients' and their competitors'
• Include patent portfolio analysis and IP audits, which are often a part of the IP due diligence we perform in connection with our mergers and acquisitions practice