McGlinchey Stafford

Intellectual Property

McGlinchey Stafford's intellectual property attorneys counsel leading national and global companies, research and development teams, educational institutions, and innovators. We have significant strength in IP issues facing the chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, financial services, and mechanical equipment industries.

Our team of IP attorneys secures and defends vital patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret rights. We have prepared and prosecuted hundreds of successful patent applications, initiated creative solutions to complex IP conflicts, and managed high-stakes litigation matters.

Practice Scope

Within our intellectual property practice, all aspects of patent law, including preparation, prosecution, and litigation, are areas of in-depth experience. Because we are a comprehensive business law firm, our IP attorneys have complete access to the skills and knowledge of colleagues in other areas of the law. We strategically collaborate with colleagues whose practices include areas and industries such as mergers and acquisitions, real estate, finance, automotive, equipment manufacturing, and energy. This extensive resident knowledge furthers the value of our long-range counsel in intellectual property matters.

McGlinchey Stafford attorneys blend a preventive approach that anticipates our clients' specific business challenges with an aggressive, and when appropriate, defensive strategy for obtaining, maintaining, and securing IP rights.

A detailed listing of intellectual property areas in which we regularly counsel clients includes:

• Patent preparation and prosecution
• Patent licensing
• Technology transfer
• Novelty and validity searches
• Patent infringement/validity opinions and counseling
• U.S. and foreign trademark/service mark applications, prosecution, appeals, and post-grant proceedings
• Trademark licensing
• Trademark and trade name availability searches
• Domain name dispute resolution
• U.S. and foreign copyright applications
• Copyright licensing
• Copyright clearance searches
• Publishing and entertainment-related contracts and licenses
• Patent, trademark, copyright, and other IP litigation and enforcement
• IP portfolio management
• Acquisitions, sales, and securitization of IP assets
• IP advice and counsel
• Interface of IP and antitrust
• Insurance coverage of IP matters
• Trade secret protection counseling
• Software, e-commerce, and web development agreements
• Expert witness consulting

Industries

We have managed IP conflicts, protections, and litigation for clients operating in the following sectors:

• Agriculture/horticulture
• Art, design, and fine arts
• Biotechnology
• Chemical research and manufacturing
• Education and academic institutions
• Entertainment
• Financial services
• Food processing
• Franchise organizations
• Governmental entities and contracting
• Health care
• Hospitality
• Insurance and brokerage industries
• Internet commerce
• Micro-manufacturing
• Office services
• Oil, gas, and energy
• Oil field services
• Pharmaceuticals
• Publishing
• Real estate development
• Research and development centers
• Software and related technology companies

Technical Backgrounds

McGlinchey Stafford attorneys have the scientific and technological training critical to the practice of patent law and other areas of intellectual property law. A sizable number of our IP attorneys have, at the minimum, undergraduate degrees in a field of chemistry, biochemistry, or an engineering discipline. The firm's patent attorneys are also experienced in a variety of other fields of basic applied science.

Several attorneys in the firm have worked in the chemical industry or in an engineering capacity for related industrial service companies, or have experience as former examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All patent attorneys are licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Intellectual Property Litigation

McGlinchey Stafford's intellectual property litigation attorneys put into practice two critical disciplines: trial advocacy skills acquired through significant in court experience backed by deep knowledge and experience in substantive IP law.

McGlinchey's Approach to IP Litigation

McGlinchey Stafford knows its clients' industries and seeks also to know each client's business well. To do this we listen. We actively collaborate with clients to understand, and perhaps help formulate, goals. With this understanding, we then strategize to strike the right balance between efficiency and maximum results for each matter. Then we act decisively on this strategy, always keeping clients' business needs in sight.

Industries in which we frequently solve IP disputes include:

• Oil field services
• Agriculture/horticulture
• Biotechnology
• Chemical research and manufacturing
• Education and academic institutions
• Entertainment
• Financial services
• Franchise organizations
• Governmental entities and contracting
• Health care
• Hospitality
• Insurance and brokerage industries
• Internet commerce
• Oil, gas, and energy
• Micro-manufacturing
• Pharmaceuticals
• Publishing
• Real estate development
• Research and development centers
• Software and related technology companies

Our IP litigation team has significant experience representing clients before a wide range of authorities and tribunals, including:

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Board of Patent Appeals and Interference
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
• U.S. District Courts and Circuit Courts of Appeal

Our IP litigation philosophy is to focus intensively on the problem at hand and bring our considerable resources to bear on the problem so that it is resolved rapidly and consistently with clients' business goals.