Industries We Serve
Aerospace
Aerospace programs run for years before a product ever flies, which makes patent strategy a long game. Filings often cover propulsion systems, avionics, structures, and the specialized materials that make them possible, and a single program can generate dozens to hundreds or even thousands of inventions over its life.
Because aerospace supply chains span many contractors and subcontractors, freedom-to-operate clearance, clear invention ownership between partners, and licensing agreements can have a significant impact on day-to-day operations. Early filing also protects a program's position before it becomes public at an air show, in a bid, or in a regulatory filing.
In addition, many aerospace programs overlap with defense projects, which raises unique questions when the government is either the primary customer or funder of the technology. We have represented aerospace clients in connection with these issues.
Artificial Intelligence
AI has become a significant driver of today's economy. Massive productivity gains make AI a critical technology for commercial and security applications. For many companies based on AI, protecting their investments into R&D of this critical industry is paramount.
However, companies are often confounded by the state of the law when it comes to IP protection of AI inventions—whether it be conflicting positions between various courts and patent offices around the world, or the seemingly conflictting incentives and disincentives between copyright and patent law to AI.
We've been there. With several decades of experience with IP in the context of software inventions, we can help guide you to the correct protection mechanism for your R&D.
Automotive
Modern automotive patents increasingly focus on software and electronics in addition to classic mechanical engineering. In addition, the increased usage of AI in vehicles has started to include previously separate IP licensing sectors under the automotive umbrella.
As before, given the multitude and tiers of automotive manufacturing suppliers, IP in the automotive industry often implicates supplier management since a component that is covered by a patent is frequently designed by one of many suppliers of parts in a vehicle.
We have a significant amount of experience in handling IP issues in the automotive sector, including a deep understanding of supply chains and roles of various players from component manufacturers to large automotive companies to their dealer networks.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity inventions have taken on more importance over the last several decades, and are expected to remain significant in the AI age. These inventions cover both hardware and software, given the ever-increasing requirements for faster processing of higher volumes of data.
IP assets in the cybersecurity sector originate from individual inventors and from large telecommunications companies, and may involve be involved in a broad range of IP transactions ranging from individual sale or license to a large cross-license between multi-national conglomerates.
We have handled numerous patents relating to cybersecurity, including cybersecurity at the edge, in data centers, on smartphones, as well as in industrial applications.
Defense
Defense-related inventions carry considerations beyond ordinary patent practice: issues of national security as well as government funding add questions that typically do not arise with commercial IP rights
In addition, regulatory burdens and contractor sensitivities to spinning out defense related IP can present a challenging environment for IP professionals without experience in this sector.
Our experience can help. We have worked with patents that were previously subject to secrecy orders as well as patents that emerged from defense startups and large defense contractors. We can help you navigate the terrain use the IP to its full potential.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing in the United States has seen a resurgence after decades of outsourcing. With reindustrialization came large investments in manufacturing R&D and modernization necessary to compete on the global scale.
IP in modern manufacturing includes inventions related to CNC machine programming, machine vision for quality control, and warehouse automation.
Since cost is a major concern for every manufacturing operation, our approach to reducing IP development costs aligns well with modern manufacturing companies.
Medical Devices
Medical device IP spans the entire range of healthcare inventions, including operating room equipment, to wearable devices, to diagnostic machines, to implants, as well as numerous other areas where science and technology address healthcare concerns.
Given the strong protections typically afforded to medical device inventions, investors and acquirers frequently scrutinize IP held by the device manufacturer since this can have a significant impact on the transaction.
We have worked with various manufacturers of medical devices, including startups focusing on surgical tools, injection devices, and hearing aids, and we understand the pressures felt by developers of these critical technologies.
SaaS
Software-as-a-Service companies often balance the need for IP protection with speed of execution since the industry moves at a rapid pace. Further, companies frequently struggle to distinguish what certain courts may consider to be patentable vs unpatentable inventions in this sector.
A good foundational patent can serve as a source of funding and stability for a new SaaS company, while a generic invention may receive no protection in the court system.
We have handled matters involving dozens of SaaS technologies, ranging from e-commerce to highly technical distributed storage portfolios, and would be happy to help with your portfolio.
Semiconductor
Semiconductor patents can cover the structure of the physical device, the fabrication process used to make it, fabrication machinery, or the architecture and design methods behind a chip. Each of these categories can benefit from its own claiming strategy.
Since the semiconductor supply chain involves a number of different players, the specific IP protection strategy will depend on your position in the industry, your competitors' posture, and where in the supply chain your invention lies.
We have handled numerous matters involving semiconductor IP, including chip design software, CPU architecture, pipelines, DRAM and SRAM, as well as lithography and other fabrication machinery.
Telecommunications
Modern Telecom IP frequently includes technology built into industry standards — for cellular, Wi-Fi, or other protocols — and can implicate standard-essential patent (SEP) and FRAND licensing issues that do not arise for most other inventions.
Although the impact of IP in this sector can be significant, the IP itself frequently comes from small companies and startups, as well as from well established industrial players. Moreover, patent licensing pools have been established in the Telecom IP sector because it can be more efficient for the industry to resolve licensing issues relating to thousands of patents at the same time, rather than dealing with individual patents from hundreds of patent owners.
We have handled numerous telecommunications patents, including those in patent licensing pools, and can help guide you through the maze of Telecom patent IP development.