Patent

The experience of our lawyers extends to all aspects of domestic and foreign intellectual property law, including:

• Detailed patent investigations and analyses in all technical areas, including providing opinions on questions of patentability, infringement, design around, state-of-the-art, and due diligence studies;

• Procurement of U.S. and foreign patents in all technical areas, as well as trademark and copyright registrations;

• Enforcement of intellectual property rights including patent, trademark and copyright litigation, licensing, negotiation and arbitration;

• Reports and opinions on the registrability of trademarks, logos and designs, including trade dress protection;

• General client counseling regarding confidentiality agreements, government research funding, university-industry relations, license agreements, corporate sponsored research contracts, development agreements, joint ventures, due diligence strategies, technology transfer agreements, software protection, and employment agreements; and

• Technical assistance to general business counsel, in-house counsel, technology transfer managers, inventors, and business investors on all aspects of intellectual property, its scope and strength, title, contract and licensing matters and employment contracts, disclosures, invention submission procedures and intellectual property audits.

Patent Prosecution
Our patent attorneys have substantial engineering, industrial, and academic experience, as well as practical business experience. This knowledge in technology and business helps us understand the inventions of our clients, and provides us with insight into the commercial potential of their inventions. Our attorneys are actively involved in, and well-informed about, the industries in which our clients participate. We practice extensively in the biotechnical and chemical arts, including pharmaceutical, agricultural and medical device technologies. Our attorneys are experienced in preparing and prosecuting patent applications relating to nucleic acids, proteins, peptides, antibodies, transgene technology, transgenic animals and plants, nucleic acid expression systems, and gene therapy. Our attorneys are also experienced in preparing and prosecuting chemical patent applications in both the inorganic and organic areas, including such items as synthetic fibers, polymer composition coatings, films and tiles, chemical compounds utilized in insulative materials, adhesives, carbon and silicone coatings, glasses, ceramics, coatings applied through vapor deposition, organic and inorganic fillers, and pharmaceutical compounds, including antimicrobials, antivirals, anti-cancer therapeutics, receptor/ligand interactions, combinatorial chemistry, liposomal and microparticle drug delivery devices, small molecules, proteins/peptides and organic synthesis, as well as manufacturing processes and related equipment for all of the above. Also, Womble Carlyle’s patent practice is well-developed in all mechanical fields of technology, including computer-controlled mechanical operations, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, foundry operations, nuclear safety systems and environmental compliance, and electronic and computing technologies, including electronics, optoelectronics, optics, software, hardware, and telecommunications, as well as electrochemical technologies.

Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement
Womble Carlyle is experienced in all phases of litigation relating to the protection and enforcement of our clients’ intellectual property. While we regularly assist clients in defending and prosecuting their intellectual property, we play a more comprehensive role of working closely with our clients to develop/devise overall strategies for protecting, evaluating and enforcing their intellectual property rights, as well as assessing potential claims and working with them to determine alternative ways of resolving disputes in order to avoid litigation. We regularly conduct patent infringement and validity reviews, both inside and outside of a lawsuit context. These reviews are part of our work with clients to pursue business/intellectual property strategies and to enforce their rights and/or defend their businesses in response to infringement claims. In addition, these reviews are an important aspect of design-around activities to design product innovations that enhance our clients’ technology and product development, while avoiding existing patents and keeping them out of litigation. Our attorneys regularly handle a wide array of traditional intellectual property litigation matters such as patent infringement, trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and copyright infringement.