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Practice/Industry Group Overview
In a fast-paced, globalized economy, a single great idea can mean the difference between success and failure. The 46 lawyers of Gardere’s Intellectual Property (IP) practice are committed to protecting our clients’ great ideas.
Our clients range from individual inventors and artists to universities and multi-national corporations, and they all benefit from our breadth and depth of intellectual property expertise. Our IP legal team includes engineers, scientists and researchers in a wealth of different disciplines, including bioinformatics, biophysics, chemistry, computer science and physics.
Our team is committed to protecting intellectual property and assets in local, national and international jurisdictions. Our lawyers are also comfortable working across cultures, with attorneys and other personnel fluent in a variety of languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Japanese, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Polish and Hungarian.
Gardere’s IP team, with its decades of technical expertise and personal experience in our clients’ industries, is the perfect confluence of legal knowledge and human wisdom.
The IP practice encompasses six areas of concentration, including:
- Patents: Prosecution and Litigation
- Trademark Protection
- Copyright Protection
- Trade Secret Maintenance
- Intellectual Asset Consulting: Analysis, Licensing and Portfolio Management
- Intellectual Property Litigation: General and Infringement Enforcement/Defense
Patents: Prosecution and Litigation
A strong patent portfolio is an important business asset. Patent portfolios can be used offensively to develop and maintain market share or defensively to resolve technology disputes. The proper management and development of intellectual property assets can also help create additional revenue streams for a business.
Gardere’s Patent Team of attorneys, patent agents and litigators has significant experience in both domestic and foreign patent preparation, prosecution and enforcement, as well as building and managing patent portfolios and the commercialization of patented inventions. Many team members have worked as engineers prior to embarking upon their careers as patent attorneys, and draw heavily upon this experience in representing clients.
The team specializes in patent prosecution, reexaminations, patent litigation, validity and infringement analyses and opinions, licensing and avoiding infringement. Team members utilize strategic patent prosecution and, when necessary, litigation to increase the likelihood of securing commercially meaningful patent protection for clients.
The team serves a diverse client base, representing large and small companies involved in:
- Academia
- Alarm and Security
- Building Products
- Chemical
- Computer Software
- Construction
- Cosmetics
- Electronics
- Manufacturing
- Medical Devices/Healthcare
- Nanotechnology
- Oil & Gas/Drilling
- Pharmaceutical
- Retail
- Sports
- Technology
- Telecommunications
- Transportation
Our Patent team also has significant experience working through the U.S. Patent Office and related foreign jurisdictions on patent preparation and prosecution. When global patent issues are involved, our lawyers utilize the firm’s network of international associates and local counsel for the protection of our clients’ patent assets.
Gardere represents clients in courts throughout the United States, with a particular familiarity with the Federal courts in Texas. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has one of the most active patent dockets of any court in the United States. With offices in Dallas and Houston, Gardere attorneys are well positioned to serve clients’ needs in the Eastern District. In fact, our lawyers regularly represent both plaintiffs and defendants in Eastern District matters, and is available to serve as Texas counsel to national clients who want experienced attorneys knowledgeable about the courts and judges in the Eastern District.
Trademark Protection
Trademarks often represent the public image of a company, making them an important and valuable branding asset that must be vigorously protected from competitors and other infringers. Gardere’s Trademark team proactively works with clients to protect trademarks. Serving as primary counsel for many national clients, our team of experienced IP attorneys and litigators is experienced working in both domestic and foreign jurisdictions to protect trademarks and pursue litigation when necessary.
The team approaches trademark protection through:
- Early involvement in the development of the mark. The team will work with a client to ensure all efforts are focused on creating strong and protectable marks.
- Registration and maintenance of the mark through a state-of-the-art docketing system and counseling the client on proper usage of the mark.
- Monitoring of potential infringements through watch services and in-house information systems.
- Ongoing policing of the mark to maintain goodwill and value.
The team works to protect trademarks for a range of clients that research, manufacture, distribute and/or sell products across a number of industry lines, including:
- Auction Services
- Commercial Building Components and Systems
- Commercial Cleaning Franchise
- Communications
- Construction and Construction Services
- Eye Care
- Food and Beverage
- Healthcare
- Home and Garden
- Homebuilding
- Hotels and Hospitality
Copyright Protection
The intellectual property protection available through copyright law is often under-appreciated. Gardere’s IP attorneys are experienced in obtaining and enforcing protection not only for those works traditionally associated with copyrights, such as books, motion pictures and music, but also for original works in such diverse areas as architectural designs and structures, semiconductor masks and computer software. This powerful tool may be used in combination with patents and trademarks to provide a comprehensive network of protections for valuable company assets.
Trade Secret Maintenance
Inventions and corporate proprietary products and processes are key trade secrets to maintain and protect. Knowing when to keep an invention secret and when to file for a patent, and thus disclose information publicly about the invention, is a strategic decision. Often, making the call on trade secret maintenance is murky, as there are business, legal and commercial implications to balance. Gardere’s IP attorneys are skilled at reviewing company trade secrets and advising clients on the best strategies for keeping these secrets proprietary, as well as when to go public.
Intellectual Asset Consulting: Analysis, Licensing and Portfolio Management
Commercialization and opportunities to utilize patents are not always apparent when reviewing portfolios of IP assets. In fact, many companies have intellectual property on file with underutilized business revenue potential. In addition to traditional counsel, Gardere’s Intellectual Property attorneys also provide strategic business advice and consulting services to clients regarding business opportunities involving their proprietary products and technologies.
Our team routinely reviews company portfolios, providing strategic advice and counsel as to whether these IP assets should be pursued as a patent or license or filed away for the future. The team also works with clients to protect IP assets not yet developed, and prepares invention assignments, employee invention and trade secret agreements, and other business contracts with key intellectual property provisions.
Intellectual Property Litigation: General and Infringement Enforcement/Defense
Intellectual property rights are crucial to the success of the modern business enterprise. When it is necessary to protect corporate intellectual property assets through litigation, Gardere’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice is ready.
Gardere IP litigation team has have successfully enforced the intellectual property rights of many clients. These actions have resulted in the recovery of monetary damages, the creation of mutually beneficial strategic alliances between the parties to the lawsuit, and in some cases, both.
Our team of more than 30 patent attorneys, seasoned trial attorneys, attorneys in highly specialized technical fields, and technical advisors works with clients to assess the issues and develop appropriate litigation strategies. As it is routine for patent and other intellectual property litigation matters to settle before trial dates, it is typical for attorneys to have little experience in trying these specialized cases. However, our team is experienced in taking cases to trial and achieving successful results for clients. Whether the best strategy is working toward a settlement, employing alternative dispute resolution or trying a case, our team has the experience to help clients achieve their goals.
The IP Litigation team has represented companies, from start-ups to Fortune 500s, in complex and bet-the-company patent infringement, copyright, trademark, trade secret and licensing cases, as well as trade dress suits, misappropriation of trade secrets and idea theft claims. They have also handled large, multi-jurisdictional patent litigation for clients, as well as complex trademark infringement, cancellations and oppositions throughout the world, in matters including:
- Manufacturing
- Chemical
- Construction
- Biotechnology
- Computer Software
- Entertainment
- Medical Devices
- Petroleum
- Semiconductor
- Telecommunications
Infringement of IP rights is an underlying reason for engaging in litigation to protect corporate assets. IP litigation, especially regarding patents, is both an effective tool for protecting valuable assets and investments made in research and development and a useful means for generating revenue and achieving strategic business objectives. The calculated assertion and enforcement of patent rights often creates new or previously underappreciated business opportunities.
In addition to enforcement, Gardere lawyers have also successfully defended numerous companies accused of violating the intellectual property rights of others. The team utilizes thorough analysis of the issues as well as procedural maneuvers, including the reexamination of the patents-in-suit, to provide clients with defenses that are both effective and efficient.
When litigation is necessary, Gardere’s Intellectual Property Litigation team is ready to protect your interests.
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