Patent Practice Overview

Our services include patent portfolio consultation and management, licensing, conducting searches and investigations to determine the availability of patent protection, and the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in the United States and internationally.  Our patent practitioners include accomplished professionals with training in many technical disciplines, and hold advanced degrees in engineering and science.  We have experience representing clients in all aspects of obtaining, prosecuting and maintaining patents in the U.S. and abroad.  

A patentability patent search and legal opinion provides legal guidance to you, in order to evaluate the legally appropriate course of action in a situation that could be affected by patent law.

A provisional patent application allows you to provide a legal place holder on your invention for a period of 12 months. You can use this 12 month period to further evaluate the possible success of the invention in the market place before going forward with a higher cost non-provisional patent application.  A provisional patent application allows you to use the phrase "patent pending" during the 12 month period. 

A utility patent provides protection for a new, original, useful, and functional item of manufacture, process, composition of matter, or machine. Utility patents are best suited for functional inventions, such as gadgets, tools, or inventions with electrical or mechanical parts. The term of a utility patent is up to twenty (20) years from filing of the patent application and in some circumstances longer.

A design patent provides protection for a new, original, and ornamental appearance of your invention or product.  The term of a design patent is fourteen (14) years.

An International Patent Application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides for centralized filing procedures whereby a single application filed in a PCT governmental receiving office can constitute an application for patent in one or more member countries.

Industrial Design Registration

An Industrial Design Registration is an intellectual property right granted by various foreign countries that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian.  An Industrial Design Registration in many ways is similar to a U.S. Design Patent and is granted on the ornamental appearance of product, configuration or composition of a pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three dimensional form.