Intellectual Property

Experience matters for the protection and exploitation of a company’s intellectual property—often its most valuable, and its most vulnerable, asset.  Our IP attorneys deliver that experience for a wide range of industries—including electronics, computer software and hardware, semiconductors, manufacturing, nanotechnology, optics, healthcare, life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, telecommunications, entertainment, and financial services—providing practical advice and innovative strategies that address all aspects of intellectual property protection and results in commercial solutions to the problems faced in today’s marketplaces.

Steptoe’s intellectual property attorneys are at the forefront of technology, commerce, and the law.

Steptoe represented the winning plaintiff in the most recent copyright/unfair competition Supreme Court case Dastar v. Twentieth Century, concerning important limitations of unfair competition law. Steptoe publishes the highly regarded E-Commerce Law Weekly which focuses on timely legal and related developments that affect electronic commerce and security.

Steptoe’s attorneys have been, and are, engaged in numerous cases, administrative proceedings, and other forums respecting the protection of virtually the entire gamut of IP rights including patent, trade secret, copyright, trademark, and privacy.  Steptoe’s attorneys regularly obtain patent protection for and advise clients on cutting-edge issues in a broad range of technologies, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemistry, materials science, optic, electrical, semiconductor, encryption, electronic commerce, mechanical, medical device, business method, telecommunication, nanotechnology, and software patents.  

The firm’s attorneys and technology specialists include a doctor of veterinary medicine and four Ph.D.s in chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical sciences, and mechanical engineering.

Steptoe partners have been chosen by their peers in the IP bar to serve recently as president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers’ Association.

Noteworthy

• In 2006, Chambers USA: DC listed Intellectual Property and Scott Doyle

Representative Matters

• Franck Muller USA, Inc. v. Yafa Antique Jewelry Inc. et al (S.D.N.Y. 2007) – Represented the United States licensee for Franck Muller watches in a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition suit relating to the gray market trafficking of Franck Muller watches.  On December 7, 2007, a federal court issued the last of several rulings barring 11 retailers from engaging in this illegal activity in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.   

Success Stories

• Steptoe Patent Team Scores Major Victory for Honda
• Section 337 Victory in Wood Flooring Investigation
• Steptoe Achieves 337 Victory for SHARPIE Maker
• Steptoe Team Arranges $40 Million Settlement for Ampex

News

• Michelle Cooke Named One of Top Ten California Trademark Attorneys of 2008 by Daily Journal
• Steptoe Continues Rapid Growth of IP Practice - John V. Hanley Joins as Partner
• Michelle A. Cooke Joins IP Practice as Partner
• Firm's IP Practice Gains Four in Century City

Events

• Maximizing Your Assets: Building Managing and Defending Your Intellectual Property Portfolio
• Steptoe Co-sponsors Webinar on Trade Secrets with Association of Corporate Counsel
• Teleconference: The Implications of KSR v. Teleflex
• Teleconference: US Supreme Court Revisits Non-Obviousness, Ultimate Test of Inventions' Patentability

Speaking Engagements

• Rebecca Edelson at Intellectual Property in Entertainment and Media

Publications

• Litigating the Business Method Patent: Pitfalls for Unwary Defendants
  2006, The Intellectual Property Strategist Vol 12 No 12
• Korea Practice (English version)
  October 18, 2006
• Korea Practice (Korean version)
  October 18, 2006
• Fashion Designers Deserve More Legal Protection
  October 5, 2006, Los Angeles Daily Journal