Intellectual Property

In business today dealing in intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets cannot be avoided. In fact, intellectual property is often among a business' most valuable assets. Whether technical or non-technical in nature, today's marketplace has virtually every business owning, licensing, or otherwise transacting in intellectual property rights.

Accordingly, to meet the needs of its clients, Dilworth Paxson's Intellectual Property Group is organized to provide a multidisciplinary approach to meeting a client's intellectual property needs. To cost effectively leverage the skills and expertise of the professionals involved in a particular matter, intellectual property matters are staffed not only with seasoned lawyers in patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, but also with corporate structuring, tax, finance, labor and employment, litigation, or other legal disciplines as clients' issues require. This unique blend of technological, business, corporate, and litigation experience enables Dilworth to deliver comprehensive solutions to clients including:

• the evaluation, acquisition, perfection, licensing, and enforcement of domestic and international patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets
• counseling and due diligence analysis to businesses and the financial community, including venture capitalists, angel investors, and other lenders considering investments, corporate restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions
• patentability opinions
• freedom-to-use assessments of intellectual properties as well as evaluations of their competing and alternative technologies
• enforcement of and defense of intellectual property rights and the defense from others' infringement through negotiation, mediation, and litigation

To promote commercialization of our clients' intellectual property assets, the Firm's Intellectual Property Group attorneys have been an integral part of major transactional matters, including asset and stock purchases, financial transactions, franchise arrangements, software development, as well as more traditional licensing and assignment agreements. Effective licensing may be quite valuable for the holders of patents, trademarks or copyrights. Indeed, significant royalty income is paid each year to companies, universities, and individuals for the right to develop and use their technology and other intellectual property. Conversely, when licenses are terminated or licensees default, protection of the intellectual properties of our clients becomes of paramount importance, and we have on several occasions recovered valuable holdings of our clients from their licensees.

Trademarks and domain names may also represent a significant portion of the intellectual property assets of our clients. To protect these valuable assets, we are skilled in the selection of names and marks associated with goods and services, and successful registration of marks on both state and federal registers. We also have an extensive background in policing and enforcing trademark and domain name rights.

With such breadth and depth of experience in this highly specialized area of law, Dilworth Paxson's Intellectual Property Group is uniquely positioned to assist its clients in successfully attaining their established business objectives.

For questions or additional information, please contact John W. Goldschmidt, Jr., Chair of the Intellectual Property Group.

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