Brand & Product Innovation

By combining business acumen, technical training, and legal skills, our intellectual property (IP) lawyers protect and leverage our clients’ products, brands, and innovations. We advise clients through every stage of brand and product development, providing a coordinated approach that leverages patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret protections in the most cost-effective way, and guiding the marketing efforts so that they are compatible with and support the protection strategy. We partner with clients to define and implement product and brand protection objectives around the world.

AREAS OF SERVICE

Our full-lifecycle services include the following:

Providing guidance on the development process, including clean-room protocols to minimize risk to copyright and trade secret claims
Evaluating products
Implementing domestic and international patent, design, and trademark clearance and protection, and related advertising campaigns
Counseling on IP monitoring and enforcement, product design protection and litigation, and licensing and transactions

We take into account the nuances of trademark and trade dress, patent and design, trade secret protection, and copyright strategy in a coordinated, efficient way.

Our work on product and brand development includes transactions and agreements. We handle mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, distribution agreements, licensing agreements, strategic alliances, and corporate reorganizations, as well as a wide variety of innovative arrangements for marketing. We also have experience structuring global IP ownership structures, whether in the context of tax planning or M&A transactions.

Our product and product design protection work ranges from software, hardware, and the “Internet of Things,” to medical devices, industrial designs, fashion, home accessories, and a broad range of other consumer, technical, and pharmaceutical products. Our IP lawyers coordinate with other legal professionals to address unique product and marketing issues, including product safety, medical device regulation, import and export restrictions, and privacy regulations.

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Patent, Trade Dress & Copyright Clearance and Protection

Product design protection, using a range of legal theories and IP protection strategies, can have a significant impact on a company’s ability to combat knock-offs and counterfeit goods, as well as to create valuable assets.

Our lawyers have experience working with clients to

develop and implement creative strategies for international product design protection that complement protection for utilitarian and trade secret aspects, including in manufacturing;
advise on international design patent protection, understanding the differences by country(e.g., novelty requirements, protection for color, use of disclaimers to protect products with interchangeable features, and omnibus and continuation applications);
identify and register trade dress and nontraditional marks, as well as works of authorship protectable by copyright;
advise on marketing strategies that support the IP protection strategy; and
counsel on clearance issues for product designs, developing appropriate strategies within budget constraints.

Product Design Enforcement & Litigation

Product design protection includes enforcing our clients’ IP rights in their product designs, as well as defending against claims of patent, trade dress, and copyright infringement. For products that may be considered medical devices, we coordinate with the firm’s US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team to ensure that product launches and marketing materials meet regulatory requirements. Our IP lawyers have experience enforcing rights through litigation and defending against claims in courts across the United States, as well as managing litigation in other countries. For example, we successfully obtained summary judgment for the defendant in a case involving both utility and design patents, a ruling that was affirmed by the Federal Circuit. We also successfully defeated a dilution claim for millions of dollars involving the design used for alcoholic beverages. We work with clients to develop programs for addressing counterfeit and other unauthorized goods, working closely with customs officials in key countries.

IP Transactions

Our IP transactional work includes M&A, joint ventures, distribution agreements, licensing agreements, strategic alliances, and corporate reorganization. Where the need arises, we also vigorously advocate for our clients in litigation arising in these areas. Learn more about our IP transactions capabilities.