Intellectual Property
In today’s increasingly competitive business environment the most successful companies have formal strategic plans in place to protect their intellectual property, such as proprietary technology, distinctive brands, and valuable works of authorship, and to enforce the rights in such intellectual property against the unauthorized use and misappropriation of others. They also implement strategies to avoid liability for infringing the intellectual property rights of others.
Snell & Wilmer’s intellectual property attorneys are well versed at developing these necessary strategies, as we advise our many clients on how to not only protect their invaluable intellectual property assets, but also how to avoid intellectual property liability and infringement, and we provide a superior level of service in a professionally supportive environment. Our intellectual property attorneys have extensive knowledge of our clients’ businesses, issues, and concerns, and we are equipped and prepared to assist in the most efficient manner possible.
Our Intellectual property attorneys heavily focus on understanding our clients’ business including an in-depth understanding of their products and services, and how they can best utilize their intellectual property to commercially exploit and obtain a competitive advantage in their industry. We work closely with our clients to develop strong and effective intellectual property portfolios, and to help them create and manage sophisticated and defensible strategies for such portfolios that support their primary business objectives.
As part of our comprehensive intellectual property services, Snell & Wilmer attorneys counsel our clients through trademark, patent, trade secret and copyright issues, including both federal and international trademark and service mark registration, patent prosecution, trade secret protection, copyright registration and protection, and related portfolio management, enforcement, defense and related litigation, and licensing distribution and other commercialization agreements. We do this domestically within the United States, and we have deep and trusted relationships with law firms and attorneys throughout the world that we work with to extend our client’s intellectual property protection internationally. When called upon, our intellectual property attorneys are ready to engage as necessary, in litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, to enforce our clients’ intellectual property rights and defend them against the assertion of intellectual property rights by others.
Our intellectual property clients are spread across the United States and around the world. Their needs are as diverse as their businesses, and their requirements are as broad as their geography. Our team has represented a wide variety of clients, from startups, individual researchers, and inventors to middle-market and emerging companies, to Fortune 500 companies in matters ranging from trademark searches and copyright fair use counseling to significant patent litigation and acquisitions of patent portfolios and technology companies.
Our intellectual property attorneys represent companies working within the consumer products, consumer electronics, biotechnology, chemical, medical device, industrial manufacturing, electronics, robotics, computer software, finance, renewable energy, automotive, aircraft and agricultural industries, among many others. We have extensive experience in prosecuting chemical, mechanical, electrical and computer engineering and systems patents, as well as innovations surrounding business methods and navigating the various hurdles around patent eligibility.
Our trademark attorneys have experience in a broad array of industries such as food and beverage, sporting goods, software, apparel and footwear, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, audio equipment, medical devices and dental products, financial services, hotels, and resorts services, assisted living, lawncare services, electronic devices and wireless products, renewal energy-related products and services, entertainment, and sports, among dozens of others.
Our group continues to monitor new industry sectors, whether it is digital currency, metaverse, or IoT, and we dedicate a lot of our personal time to becoming knowledgeable of the legal issues in such emerging industries to best service our clients when needs arise.
Services the group provides for our clients on a regular basis include, among others:
- Overall IP strategy review, including IP audits
- Patent assessment and due diligence
- Patent filing and prosecution, maintenance
- Patent infringement/enforcement investigations
- Patent-based transactions and strategic counseling
- Patent litigation, before US District Courts, Federal Court of Appeals, ITC
- Patent procurement is U.S. and foreign countries
- Trade secret protection and litigation
- Trademark clearance, applications, counseling, enforcement, maintenance of portfolios
- Trademark litigation and enforcement
- False advertising litigation
- Copyright procurement, counseling, and litigation
Knowledgeable and Experienced: Our intellectual property attorneys have professional backgrounds and degrees in a variety of technical and business disciplines, including engineering, computer science, materials science, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and biochemistry. Several of our attorneys have attained advanced master’s or doctorate degrees in these disciplines as well.
Depth and Breadth: Snell & Wilmer has a robust intellectual property practice group that includes over 50 attorneys licensed-in patent law, and otherwise experienced in trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property laws. We now have intellectual property attorneys across most of our offices, including Phoenix, Tucson, Denver, Salt Lake City, Orange County, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Dallas, and Portland offices.
Recognized by Others: Snell & Wilmer’s Intellectual Property attorneys are recognized in national legal rankings such as Super Lawyers®, The Best Lawyers in America®, IAM Patent 1000, The Legal 500, World Trademark Review, U.S. News Media Group, and Managing Intellectual Property among other public recognition. Our lawyers participate in a variety of professional organizations including various sections of the International Trademark Association (INTA), American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), American Bar Association (ABA) and others, and teach at the university level as well.
