McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

When it comes to your business, success means prioritizing growth, and your organization’s intellectual property (IP) should help drive it. We are our clients’ secret weapon in the boardroom and the courtroom for IP litigation, licensing, monetization and strategic portfolio development. Our global intellectual property practice includes more than 100 lawyers and professionals who offer a mix of business savvy and technical skills to help achieve success for our clients.

However, a return on your IP investment is hardly guaranteed these days. Product lifecycles are short, competition is fierce and reputations can be won or lost at the push of a social media button. Not to mention, an increasingly complex web of international laws and regulations, judicial decisions, and new legislation poses a constant challenge.

So, whether you’re building the next iconic brand, protecting game-changing new technology or creating new revenue streams from your established IP assets, our team can help you achieve your business goals at every stage of the IP lifecycle.

Explore the latest developments in IP law by visiting the IP Update Blog.

Patent Portfolio Strategy and Counseling

Patents are the foundation of your brand and products. To protect and manage your innovations, our team develops strategies that fully leverage your IP assets and give you a strategic advantage in the competitive market.

IP Litigation

The IP litigation market has grown increasingly complex and more competitive, and it’s more important than ever to have a comprehensive protection and enforcement strategy for your IP assets. As trusted advisors, our IP litigation team can help you maintain your market position and maximize your investment in core patents and products.

Trademark Prosecution, Counseling and Enforcement

Selecting the right brand name is critical for companies bringing a new product or service to market. We partner with clients from the earliest stages of product development to search and file for brand names globally. We are also well-equipped to partner with your in-house legal and marketing teams to enhance your current brand and offer counsel on potential new brands and markets.

IP Transactions and Licensing

With decades of combined experience performing IP due diligence on acquisitions, investments and IP asset purchases of all deal sizes (from $1 million to $70 billion), we collaborate with colleagues in our Transactional Group to provide scalable solutions that are tailored to your business needs and budgetary constraints.

Monetization

Drive growth to your bottom line. We develop programs for in-house legal departments to commercialize and license their IP assets. We will help you derive income from your dormant IP assets and act as a profit center, not a cost center.

Let us show you what we can do for you.

In recent years, the ease of inventing and going to market has created a competitive global marketplace. Under these conditions, it has never been more important to protect and enforce your valuable patent assets throughout the IP lifecycle to preserve your edge and safeguard your bottom line and business value.

To mitigate risk and capitalize on opportunity to advance your business goals, you need a partner in the courtroom and the boardroom. That’s our bread and butter. We assemble the best team possible for the matter at hand to deliver business-driven solutions for existing problems and innovative strategies to help you stay ahead of the competition.

As the patent litigation landscape grows increasingly complex, with recent precedent-setting decisions from the Federal Circuit of Appeals and the Supreme Court, we offer an IP litigation team well known for protecting and enforcing patents through complex litigation globally. We handle high-stakes disputes for clients across geographies: the US federal district and appellate courts, the US Supreme Court, the International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the courts of Europe and China.

Our lawyers were some of the first filers before the PTAB, and we have earned major patent victories in dozens of federal district and appellate courts, including the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—and its predecessor, the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals—where we have argued more than 100 appeals. In appellate matters, you benefit from our IP lawyers’ extensive experience and knowledge around the practices, procedures and judges at the Federal Circuit.

We have a longstanding record of achieving favorable outcomes for clients in high-profile patent districts, including the Eastern District of Texas, District of Delaware, Northern District of California and Eastern District of Virginia, among others. We have also achieved key successes in cases against non-practicing entities (NPEs), and have specific experience in disputes involving technologies such as automotive technology, semiconductors, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other life sciences products.

At trial, our teams effectively explain complex technology and IP legal principles to both judges and juries in a way that increases the likelihood of achieving favorable results on your behalf. We can also resolve disputes through favorable settlement negotiations. This is the caliber of work we do for our clients every day.

In all matters, we are fearless and relentless advocates for your company, here to protect and enforce your patent assets throughout your business lifecycle.

In today’s global market, your business faces a growing number of challenges when it comes to intellectual property: product lifecycles are short, competition is fierce, and patent laws and regulations have become increasingly complex. To stay competitive and build your company’s value, you require an IP strategy that goes beyond research and development to proactively build a formidable patent portfolio.

Our team has significant experience in all aspects of patent-related law throughout the IP lifecycle. Equally important, our business-first perspective makes us uniquely equipped to understand your goals, your competitors, and the business and legal strategies that can help you go further and build a competitive advantage in your industry.

We offer a deep bench of lawyers and patent agents with advanced degrees and industry experience in mechanical and electrical engineering, computer hardware and software, life sciences and other highly technical areas. As a result, our team not only understands the technology behind your product, but also the legal, regulatory and business issues that present a constant challenge to your company.

Our patent portfolio strategy and asset management team can use that understanding to take a big-picture view of your patent assets, products and distribution channels to identify new market opportunities and partners. That business-first analysis is designed to help your company increase revenues and build the value of your portfolio through licensing, enforcement and other commercialization strategies.

The industry recognizes the caliber of our work in IP—we are engaged frequently as expert witnesses to assist other firms in litigation and to provide expert opinions on legal and technical issues. Let us show you what we can do for you.

Your business depends on the strength of your brand, and trademarks play an important role in protecting that brand throughout your IP lifecycle. Competitors can dangerously impact your bottom line when they encroach on your corner of the marketplace and use—or misuse—your trademarks, capitalizing on your hard-earned goodwill and reputation. False or misleading claims made by those same competitors in advertising to consumers could also cause irreparable damage to your brand.

To protect your company, it’s crucial to have a trusted advisor by your side in the courtroom and the boardroom to enforce your trademarks and defend your intangible assets.

Think of us as that trusted advisor, here to act as business strategists who also happen to excel in IP litigation. With one of the strongest and most active global trademark practices, clients trust us with their high-stakes trademark litigation, and we have significant experience handling trademark and trade dress infringement, false advertising and other related claims in federal district, appellate and state courts in the US.

We have also successfully represented clients in third-party opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in administrative court proceedings around the world—all with the knowledge that every decision should align with your unique business goals throughout the IP lifecycle.

In online enforcement matters, we have successfully resolved numerous domain name disputes for our clients using pre-dispute negotiations and Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) proceedings before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). We have also handled federal court litigation under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), including the ACPA's in rem provisions, as well as traditional trademark and unfair competition causes of action.

To help protect your valuable IP assets, enforce your trademarks and minimize risks to your business, employees and customers, we can guide you in addressing trademark issues swiftly and effectively.

Protect. Grow. Flourish.

As a life sciences company, your intellectual property is your most valuable asset—it’s what propels your growth, drives your success and sets you apart from competitors. But it may also be your most vulnerable asset.

How you commercialize your innovation and gain compliance is crucial for the success of your business. As competitors constantly work to capture your share of the market, it is imperative that your IP is protected to maximize its value.

Our more than 135 multidisciplinary life sciences lawyers are here to help. In addition to legal experience spanning the world’s foremost life sciences companies to its most innovative startups, the majority of our IP lawyers hold advanced degrees in the life sciences fields. Our institutional qualifications, coupled with real-world experience on almost 1,000 patent and trademarks annually, uniquely position the firm to anticipate change and adapt quickly to take advantage of opportunity, so you can focus on achieving your mission.

We provide the full array of services to protect and leverage your IP assets:

• Patent and trademark protection
  • Patentability analysis
  • Trademark clearance
• Infringement, validity and freedom-to-operate opinions
• IP transactions
  • Licensing and collaboration
  • M&A and finance
  • Outsourcing and licensing agreements
• Litigation
  • “Bet the company” litigation
  • Patent litigation
  • Hatch-Waxman Act cases
  • Medical device infringement

Let us help you go further.