Hughes Hubbard counsels clients at all stages of product development, from the initial research and development stage through product commercialization. We work closely with our clients to maximize their intellectual property assets and to minimize their risks.
Hughes Hubbard’s patent practice is led by attorneys experienced in all phases of patent law including patent infringement litigation, patent procurement and counseling. The Firm employs a business-focused approach, and we strive to understand product life cycles to protect more effectively our client’s intellectual property rights and products. We work with our clients to mine their existing intellectual property to cover newcomers to the field and to draft patent claims to stake out intellectual property in the identified voids in the patent landscape. We perform extensive freedom-to-operate studies to identify potential barriers to market entry, and we recommend ways to overcome these barriers such as through designing around or licensing technology. In some cases, we recommend provoking an interference or initiating reexamination proceedings. Hughes Hubbard was at the forefront of using ex parte reexamination procedures affirmatively to invalidate patents in the post-KSR era, a tactic that has now become much more prevalent.
Achievement of these goals sometimes requires litigation, and Hughes Hubbard attorneys are expert at handling complex technology cases, whether it concerns pharmaceuticals, medical devices, nanotechnology, military simulator technology, communication systems or advanced sorting software programs. We have a team of over 20 intellectual property litigation attorneys, many of whom have technical degrees. Our intellectual property litigators have handled patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright, and intellectual property licensing litigation in courts and administrative agencies throughout the U.S. and abroad. Our roster includes professionals with extensive knowledge of patent law and trial techniques who are well prepared to handle virtually any patent infringement litigation.
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