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Services Available
Transactions may be simple licenses for income or complex strategic alliances providing product and market access to both parties. We can analyze the potential for generating royalty income from existing IP rights, then formulate and execute licensing programs to help you realize full revenue potential. We advise on everything in a transaction program ranging from the initial confidential evaluation agreement through management of the portfolio of executed IP agreements. As business relationships evolve, we assist in enforcing or amending obligations in those agreements.
Finnegan brings generations of transactional experience and is a pioneer in the development of IP licensing. Our lawyers have played and continue to play an instrumental role in the establishment and ongoing management of the Licensing Executives Society and continue to serve in leadership roles in the United States and internationally. We are recognized authorities in IP transactions law and serve as adjunct professors and contributing authors to licensing and transactional publications. Many consider us to have “written the book” on IP licensing.
Representative Engagements
Comprehensive patent transactions and strategic counseling for an international leader in the mining and distribution of industrial minerals
Since its founding, we have provided strategic intellectual property counseling and representation to Imerys, including its French parent company, international subsidiaries, U.S. headquarters, and multiple domestic business units. We have evaluated developing technology for patentability; drafted and prosecuted patent applications in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and abroad; analyzed patent enforcement opportunities; defended against third-party charges; and provided legal opinions on several aspects involved in bringing new products to market and maintaining Imerys’s strong, competitive position in the kaolin clay market.
Global patent analysis for renewable energy
A European company asked us to conduct IP due diligence on a technology it was looking to acquire. This renewable energy focused on the production of photovoltaic cells. In less than one month, we coordinated prior art searches in Europe and the United States, evaluated the search results containing over 500 U.S. and European patents, provided our opinion on freedom to operate with the target technology, and set up a system to monitor European and U.S. patents that may be granted in the future.
Leveraging patents for digital compression technology
When a leading patent management company wanted to generate royalties from patents developed and owned by an international group of research and operating companies, it turned to Finnegan for assistance in setting up and running a licensing and enforcement program involving a full range of activities—analyzing the patents, identifying infringers in the marketplace, negotiating and drafting license agreements, litigating to enforce the patents, and providing strategic advice throughout the process.
Patent pooling in standards arena
We assisted our client in developing and negotiating an arrangement for pooling essential patents for an adopted standard. We created contracts by which the client became the agent for the patent owners in granting licenses to all applicants on a RAND basis.
Protecting an international leader in chemicals, fibers and plastics
Finnegan’s work for Eastman Chemical covers a wide variety of technologies, including Eastman’s valuable specialty polyester resin portfolio. Our work has involved drafting and prosecuting applications for commercially important technologies; specialty prosecution proceedings, such as reexaminations and reissues; the preparation of opinions; prelitigation investigations; and issues involving licensing.
Protecting patents for a leader in medical devices
Finnegan has represented Boston Scientific in a variety of patent matters since 1995. The work has included prosecution of hundreds of U.S. and foreign patent applications in the medical device area. Finnegan has also represented Boston Scientific in interferences, due diligence investigations of target companies, product freedom-to-operate opinions, reissue applications, and European oppositions.
Start-up licensing program
A start-up company providing the technology for LCD panels faced a difficult licensing challenge in the worldwide fragmented production environment. We assisted the client in formulating a licensing program that provided necessary rights to the various levels of value production in countries around the world while avoiding exhaustion of the client’s IP rights through unrestricted distribution of components.
Strategic alliance in medical diagnostics
Our client had the technology and the IP but not the market presence. A major pharmaceutical company needed a portfolio of diagnostic products. We assisted our client in a lengthy negotiation over a partnership arrangement that allowed both companies to prosper. While IP was an important part of the transaction, we assisted in creating contractual protection of the client’s business interests, particularly in the event of a separation.
The world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines relies on us for patent protection
Since 2000, Finnegan has worked closely with the inventors and legal staff at Caterpillar Inc. The firm has prepared and is prosecuting several hundred patent applications in the U.S. and in many foreign countries. We have also assisted Caterpillar with many opinion matters involving issues of patent validity, infringement, and other subjects. During our relationship, we have also advised on intellectual property issues related to government contracts, licensing, and copyrights, and more recently, we have taken on a significant role protecting Caterpillar's well-known trademarks around the world.
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