Protecting your company’s valuable innovations requires a deep understanding of the invention and the complicated process of preparing technical and scientific descriptions, as well as navigating complicated processes for securing valuable protection from government patent offices. This patent procurement process demands close cooperation between inventors and counsel to assess the invention and prepare technical descriptions and drawings for filing with the Patent Office. Successful cooperation between counsel and innovators results in commercially valuable patent protection that can exclude competitors from key markets for many years. This long and complicated process, however, requires counsel to have excellent technical and communication skills, as well as a deep understanding of the innovator’s and the their company’s goals. Counsel must also have a strong knowledge of the procedures and rules required to shepherd patent applications from filing to issuance to maintenance and strategies for enforcement of issued patents.
The team at Panitch Schwarze has extensive patent procurement experience, having filed and secured thousands of patents. Our legal professionals also have strong technical and scientific backgrounds through education and industry experience that provides a deep understanding of our clients’ technologies. Many of our attorneys and agents have advanced degrees, years of experience as patent examiners, and practical industry experience attained before and after practicing as attorneys. This deep understanding and practical knowledge enable us to efficiently craft customized procurement strategies that meet our clients’ client’s needs.
Utilizing this deep legal and technical know-how, the registered patent attorneys and agents at our firm approach patent procurement from the perspective of counsel who has seen defenses from opposing counsel and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of patents from a commercial perspective. Our professionals consider potential design-arounds and infringer defenses early in the patent application preparation process, resulting in stronger patents and adaptable patent applications that provide maximum commercial value to our clients and keep competitors at bay.
The legal professionals at Panitch Schwarze don’t simply go through the motions of patent prosecution, we actively develop patent portfolios to achieve our clients’ strategic business goals. Each patent application or patent family is evaluated to focus on our client’s business strategies, potentially including defensive coverage, licensing revenue, creating barriers to market entry, preparation for litigation, monetizing non-essential patent assets, or building value for a merger or acquisition. We utilize creative and proactive approaches to improve prosecution results, often meeting directly with U.S. Patent Examiners to expedite patent prosecution cycles and save valuable client resources, quickly protect valuable client markets, and block competitors from copying innovative products and processes.