IP Counseling

Strategic Guidance for Building and Protecting Intellectual Property Assets

Intellectual property counseling provides the foundation for effective IP strategy, helping clients identify, protect, and leverage intellectual property assets that drive business value. Rather than reactive responses to specific problems, IP counseling takes a proactive approach—anticipating issues before they arise, building protection systematically, and aligning IP strategy with business objectives. This practice serves clients across industries, from startups establishing initial IP positions to mature enterprises managing global portfolios worth billions.

Strategic IP Planning

Every effective IP program begins with strategy. Counsel works with clients to understand their business models, competitive environment, and growth plans, then develops IP strategies aligned with those objectives. Strategy addresses what forms of IP protection are available and appropriate for client innovations, how to prioritize limited resources across protection opportunities, timing considerations for filing decisions, geographic scope based on current and anticipated markets, and integration of IP considerations into business processes. Strategic planning ensures IP investments deliver maximum business value rather than simply accumulating registrations.

Innovation Capture and Protection

Many valuable innovations go unprotected because companies lack systems for identifying protectable developments. Counsel helps clients implement innovation capture processes that surface patentable inventions, copyrightable works, trade secrets, and potential trademark opportunities. Regular invention harvesting sessions, innovation disclosure systems, and training programs build cultures where IP protection becomes routine. Once innovations are identified, counsel evaluates protection options and recommends appropriate strategies balancing protection scope, cost, and business relevance.

Clearance and Freedom to Operate

Before launching products, services, or brands, clients need to understand whether they risk infringing others' IP rights. Clearance analysis evaluates proposed activities against existing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets to identify potential conflicts. Freedom to operate opinions provide formal legal analysis of infringement risk for significant decisions. When conflicts are identified, counsel advises on design-around options, licensing opportunities, and risk management strategies. Proactive clearance prevents costly disputes and enables confident business decisions.

IP Policy and Governance

Organizations need clear policies governing IP creation, ownership, and management. Counsel helps develop policies addressing employee invention assignment and confidentiality obligations, contractor and consultant IP provisions, joint development and collaboration arrangements, open source software usage and contribution, and IP in academic and research partnerships. Effective policies ensure organizations capture IP they fund while managing relationships with inventors, partners, and collaborators appropriately.

Competitive Intelligence and Monitoring

Understanding competitors' IP positions informs both offensive and defensive strategy. Competitive analysis tracks competitor patent filings, trademark applications, and product developments. Technology landscaping maps IP protection across technology areas to identify opportunities and threats. Monitoring services alert clients to potentially conflicting applications that may warrant opposition or design changes. Regular competitive updates keep clients informed of developments affecting their markets.

IP Risk Assessment

IP creates both opportunities and risks. Counsel helps clients understand their IP risk profile, including exposure to infringement claims, vulnerability to competitor challenges, gaps in protection that competitors might exploit, and contractual IP obligations that may limit flexibility. Risk assessment enables informed decisions about where to invest in additional protection, where to accept managed risk, and where remediation is needed.

Transaction Support

IP considerations arise throughout corporate transactions and commercial relationships. Counsel supports IP aspects of M&A due diligence, technology licensing, joint ventures, and financing arrangements. IP valuation for transaction purposes, representations and warranties, and post-closing integration all benefit from experienced IP counsel involvement. Integration of IP counseling with transaction work ensures IP issues receive appropriate attention in corporate dealmaking.

Training and Education

Effective IP management requires awareness throughout organizations. Counsel provides training programs tailored to different audiences—executives who make strategic decisions, R&D personnel who create innovations, marketing teams who develop brands, and legal departments who manage day-to-day IP matters. Well-designed training builds IP awareness and enables better decisions at all organizational levels.