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Patent

From Mechanical and Electrical to Chemical and Biological, We Have Proven Strategies to Help You Obtain Defendable Patents

Innovation and research are important investments for the growth and success of any organization. At NSIP Law, we understand that protection of these investments is critical to any company, and are focused on helping you secure your rights, either through utility patents or design patents. Our patent attorneys are here to lead and navigate your company every step of the way through this increasingly complicated intellectual property arena in the United States and throughout the world.

Utility Patents

Utility patents are granted for a new, useful, and nonobvious device, system, or process. Utility patents claim as the owner's property the structure and operation of a device or system, and/or the series of method steps that comprise a process.

Our patent attorneys have the technical know-how and expertise gained through hands-on experience, coupled with a diversity of academic backgrounds that enable them to both understand and appreciate the value of your innovations. The broad range of technical expertise possessed by our patent attorneys includes telecommunications, wireless technologies, solid state and optical memory devices, printer technology, display devices, semiconductors, medical devices, advanced software and computer systems, biomedical, and biochemical technologies. The depth of technical expertise also enables us to interact effectively with the scientists, engineers, and business people from our clients on all necessary technical or technological matters.

As a result of having several patent attorneys with prior experience as patent examiners and as in-house patent counsel, we effectively communicate with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and with our clients on all aspects of the patenting process. We are proud to have served our clients from several different countries for all their utility patenting needs at the USPTO, and at other foreign Intellectual Property Offices. Our expertise extends to the following matters:

  • Performing prior art searches and providing patentability opinions to our clients.
  • Preparing and prosecuting utility patent applications before the USPTO.
  • Managing the preparation, filing and prosecution of utility patent applications in International Patent Offices, through our network of associate law firms in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and throughout the world.
  • Prosecuting appeals of finally rejected utility patent applications before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO.
  • Counseling clients regarding associated risks and limitations of filing reissue and reexamination applications.
  • Filing and prosecuting reissue and reexamination applications in a cost-effective manner.
  • Providing clients, either the patent owner or the accused infringer. with formal patent infringement and validity opinions.
  • Representing clients with respect to patent licensing agreements, technology transfer agreements. and joint-development agreements involving patented or patentable technologies.

Design Patents

Design patents are granted for a new and nonobvious design for an article of manufacture, the ornamentation applied to an article of manufacture, or both. Design patents provide a critical, yet often overlooked method of protecting your products from copying. This is particularly true in industries where the shape, configuration, appearance and color of a product, and its ornamentation, are of critical importance to brand recognition among consumers throughout the world.

Design patents protect traditional manufactured products of an almost infinite variety. In the digital age, the law of design patents has evolved so that now the visual appearance of graphical user interfaces and icons displayed on computer monitors and mobile devices are eligible for design patent protection as well. This has provided high technology companies and software developers alike with the ability to carve out exclusive property rights for their creativity on a wide landscape, and to compete globally based on the unique look and feel of their interfaces.

NSIP Law has developed an experienced and knowledgeable group of attorneys and paralegals who focus their practice on the procurement of design patents for our clients. NSIP attorneys are in the enviable position of being able to assist clients with a comprehensive strategy for protecting and enforcing their design patent rights throughout the world. Our expertise extends to the following matters:

  • Counseling regarding the eligibility of products, or individual product features, for design patent protection.
  • Counseling regarding the relative risks and benefits of using black & white line drawings, color or color contrast as part of drawing, grayscale/CAD drawings, or photographs to express the design elements.
  • Strategies for claiming graphical user interfaces and icons, both as static displays and as transitional or animated graphical user interfaces whose images change in a sequence.
  • Coordinating the preparation of formal design drawings for design patent applications filed in the United States and abroad.
  • Drafting design patent applications.
  • Strategies for filing multiple applications that claim various aspects of a unified design, in order to defeat counterfeiters or infringers who make slight changes to a product to avoid infringement.
  • Strategies for protecting design patent rights internationally.