Colorado

With approximately 900 lawyers operating out of 12 offices worldwide, Cooley is a top-rated law firm with a strong presence of IP professionals in its Colorado office. The firm handles IP litigation, prosecution, licensing, and counseling in matters of patents, trademarks, and copyrights. In patent prosecution matters, a life sciences client praises the firm's "substantive knowledge," its "excellent and commendable ability to provide practical advice," and its "superb responsiveness."

The robust IP practice is led by Jim Brogan, known by one peer as "very strong in IP litigation." Under his direction, Cooley has seen significant growth across many areas, including its ITC practice. Additionally, his leadership and legal prowess has helped to increase the firm's volume of patent litigation, its number of successful patent and trademark applications, and the strength of its overall trademark practice.

 Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney's tradition of excellence in intellectual property dates back to the 1960s. Since these beginnings, this practice has grown and matured greatly, and, today, boasts 39 partners and associates in its Denver office. The firm enjoys a national and even international reach with offices that span from Anchorage to New York and Des Moines to Hong Kong. A peer speaks of the firm as a "year-in and year-out strong firm in trademark." Another peer recognizes the patent prosecution group as "very good." A nonprofit trade association client claims to be "extremely pleased" with Dorsey's legal expertise in trademark matters.

In total, 45 partners and associates work out of the Denver location, where patent and trademark prosecution are considered primary strong suits of the IP group. The office focuses on IP transactional work, but it has been a busy year for the litigation group as well, which has expertise in electrical engineering patents. They are consistently ranked among the top firms, having handled several high-stakes matters valued in the multimillion-dollar range.

Gregory Tamkin heads the Denver office as well as the trial departments in Denver and Montana. His practice concerns complex commercial litigation, especially IP litigation. Lee Osman chairs the firm's patent group. His practice revolves around IP licensing, portfolio development, and management.

Holland & Hart is a Colorado-based general practice firm with 480 lawyers across 15 regional offices as well as one in Washington, DC. The firm employs more than 80 attorneys focused on IP law, primarily in the realms of transactional law and patent and trademark prosecution. The firm receives particularly strong recommendations for its work building and maintaining trademark portfolios for clients, as well as for its abilities in all aspects of copyright, patent, licensing, and the enforcement of IP rights. The firm also protects privacy, data, domain name and social media IP rights. Technological areas of strength include wireless telecommunications and electrical engineering. Peers speak highly of the firm's patent prosecution group and call the trademark practice the "best in town." A major software client speaks of the firm as strong in enforcement strategy and "good at making estimates and sticking to them."

The Boulder office led by Scott Havlick serves some of the firm's largest trademark clients and manages trademark portfolios and enforcement strategies worldwide. A major restaurant company praises Havlick as "the primary lawyer we use," adding that "he is highly experienced, has excellent judgment and provides excellent service."

Timothy Getzoff, known by one peer as "very professional and a strong advocate for clients," leads the litigation group and does extensive trademark work. James Hartley is a veteran attorney with more than 40 years of litigation experience in a diverse range of industries. Andrea Anderson leads the firm's trademark group alongside Havlick.

A computer software company speaks of Anderson and her team as "a seamless extension of our in-house team," adding that they have consistently achieved good results. Andrea has filled her trademark practice with good people who are pragmatic, capable and enjoyable to work with and don't get flustered under pressure." 

Donald Degnan is the chair of the IP group and focuses much of his practice on patent and trademark litigation and strategic counseling. He is well regarded by peers across Colorado.

Michael Drapkin has further bolstered the firm's IP capabilities. A peer speaks of Drapkin as having a "very strong prosecution book," and being "very busy."

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton is a broadly celebrated firm that consistently demonstrates its advanced capabilities in the practice of IP law. With a deep and enviable bench of more than 300 IP-dedicated lawyers, the firm has enjoyed distinguished success since its beginnings in 1860. Today, it draws upon this rich history to serve clients from 18 offices in California, Colorado, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Washington, and Washington, DC, as well as international establishments in Sweden, Japan, and Shanghai. A peer speaks of the Colorado office as "very steady."

Housing a talented team of attorneys, the firm is considered a go-to spot for all aspects of IP procurement, protection, and litigation.

Patent prosecutor Thomas Franklin is often hired by companies who are looking to have their patents drafted and filed quickly, at a good rate, and with their business needs in mind. Over the course of only four years, Franklin and his team were able to build out a patent portfolio of 100-plus patents on behalf of client Limelight, which had only two patents when Kilpatrick began its work, and were simultaneously involved in multiple competitor suits. He has recently busied himself in reworking the patent procurements programs for Live Nation/TicketMaster to expand portfolio offerings.

Darin Gibby enjoys a robust practice that primarily concerns counseling, transactions, and licensing matters, and he has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions. A member of Kilpatrick's executive committee, Gibby is considered a leading authority of all things related to IP law. Recently, he has been involved in multiple IPRs for Johns Manville, invalidating one of Knauf's patents and getting one of Johns Manville's patents reissued. He is in the midst of developing a patent portfolio for Dr. Keith Lurie on a new CPR technique that may dramatically increase the chances of surviving cardiac arrest. A manufacturing client in a variety of matters speaks of the Gibby as "responsive and communicative on all matters" with "top notch" quality of work. A peer speaks of him as a "big player in town" who "helped to bring the patent office here."

Merchant & Gould's roots as a top-tier IP boutique can be traced all the way back to its foundation in 1900 in Minneapolis. It has since seen great growth, now boasting a team of more than 100 attorneys in eight offices throughout the US. The firm's Denver office was opened in 1998, making it the second in Merchant & Gould's continuously expanding network. Over the course of the last two years, the firm has filed nearly 4,000 patents and is currently the second highest trademark filer in the country. Merchant & Gould has earned long-term loyalty from its clients, some of whom have been with the firm for as long as 30 years. A peer speaks of the firm as having "a lot of talented young practitioners coming up at the ranks that I would love to have at my firm."

Managing partner in the Denver office, Timothy Scull has developed a specialty in strategic patent prosecution and management of complex patent portfolios, as well as being a deeply experienced IP litigator. A peer mentions trial attorney Peter Gergely as an "up-and-coming litigator."

With more than 250 attorneys devoted to the practice, Perkins Coie enjoys a favorable reputation as one of the largest IP departments nationwide. The firm was recently involved in one of the largest trade secret cases in the past five years (for Zillow), in which the opposing side demanded more than a billion dollars in damages. Tech companies and those representing a diverse industry set make up the firm's impressive and varied client base. A peer speaks of the firm as being particularly active overseas and in the Chinese market. Another peer finds himself "amazed at their growth in Colorado in the last couple of years."

Peter Kinsella is a widely celebrated partner in Perkins Coie's technology, transactions, and privacy and intellectual property practice. He joined the firm five years ago and has since made a name for himself advising start-ups as well as emerging and larger companies.

Douglas Sawyer is an IP litigator who splits his time between the Denver and Chicago offices; he is adept in handling patent and trademark infringement matters, trade secret misappropriation, among other legal areas. A peer speaks of him as being "well respected in the speaking circuit" and doing "highly technical transactional work for high tech companies." Another peer speaks of him as "experienced in telecom, IT and IP transactions." He is lead counsel for a Taiwanese/Chinese company in cordless window blind litigation, in which there are four cases and nine asserted patents.

 Tracing its roots back to 1954, Sheridan Ross is a full-service, Denver-based IP boutique of 41 attorneys. They are known for their deep technical experience with computer software, biochemistry, engineering, molecular biology, and neuroscience, among other areas of expertise. The firm is famed for its investments in client relationships, as several of them are long-standing alliances that have strengthened over the decades and extended to the present day. Patent and trademark prosecution remain the pinnacle of the firm's success; it processes approximately 440 applications every year. Peers speak of the firm as one of the "founding" IP firms in Colorado and as a "strong firm year in and year out in trademark" with a "very good prosecution group."

John Posthumus bears more than two decades of experience litigating complex patent and trademark disputes as well as with sophisticated IP counseling. He has served as trademark and IP litigation counsel for RE/MAX since 1998. A peer speaks of him as a "strong litigator and knowledgeable transactional attorney." Another peer speaks of him as "very involved in policy and lobbying for the patent bar." Todd Blakely is known by one peer as a "senior statesman" of the firm.

Robert Brunelli, known by one peer as "serving a niche as a good patent strategist," heads the litigation practice. He is also the firm's co-president and co-secretary. His leadership in the field goes virtually uncontested, and, with more than 20 years of experience in his wake, his services are regularly enlisted by clients that range from start-ups to multinational corporations. He recently acted as lead counsel for petitioner Terumo BCT earning a favorable inter partes review decision. Sabrina Stavish, who focuses her practice on brand management and strategy in the trademark, copyright, and domain name arenas. A peer speaks of her as one of the five full trademark attorneys in Colorado. Another peer mentions her as "the trademark person at Sheridan Ross–an expert" and "top drawer in that space."