Good patent strategy starts long before a lawsuit. We counsel clients across the full patent lifecycle, helping you decide what to protect, how to read a crowded patent landscape, and where the real risks and opportunities sit. Because our attorneys come from engineering, we can talk to your technical team in their own language and translate that understanding into patent decisions that actually serve the business.
Is It Patentable
Not every invention is worth a patent, and not every patentable invention is worth filing. We assess novelty, non-obviousness, and subject-matter eligibility, then weigh the strategic value against the cost. The goal is a clear answer on what to file, when to file it, and how to spend a limited IP budget where it earns the most competitive protection rather than spreading filings thin across low-value ideas.
Validity And Infringement Opinions
When a competitor's patent is in your path, a written opinion gives you a defensible basis to act. We prepare formal opinions analyzing whether a patent is valid over the prior art and whether your product or process actually infringes. A well-reasoned, contemporaneous opinion can blunt a later willful-infringement claim and the enhanced damages that come with it, while giving you confidence to make the call.
Freedom To Operate
Before you launch, you want to know whose patents stand in the way. We run freedom-to-operate studies that map the relevant third-party patents, gauge your infringement exposure, and flag claims that look vulnerable to a validity challenge. From there we lay out practical options, from design-arounds to licensing, so you go to market with eyes open rather than discovering the problem after the product ships.
Building A Portfolio
A patent portfolio should track where your business is headed, not just where your R&D has been. We work directly with technical teams to surface inventions, set filing strategies that line up with your product roadmap, and build a portfolio that gives you leverage, whether for defense, cross-licensing, or deterrence. We also train inventors to spot patentable work and contribute usefully during prosecution.
