Intellectual Property

Experience matters for the protection and exploitation of a company’s intellectual property—often its most valuable, and its most vulnerable, asset. Poised at the intersection of technology, commerce, and law, Steptoe attorneys help clients develop, exploit, and defend their intellectual property to produce enduring competitive advantages.

We provide practical advice and innovative strategies to clients in a wide range of industries including electronics, computer software and hardware, semiconductors, manufacturing, automotive and gaming industries, tooling, nanotechnology, optics, healthcare and life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, telecommunications, media and entertainment, and financial services. Our attorneys’ and technology specialists’ strong technical backgrounds enable them to provide value-added advice and obtain excellent results. The firm’s attorneys and technology specialists include a doctor of veterinary medicine and seven Ph.D.s in chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical sciences, electrical, and mechanical engineering. On behalf of the firm’s clients, Steptoe attorneys find commercial solutions to the problems faced in today’s marketplaces.

Our attorneys have been, and are, engaged in numerous cases, including legislative action, administrative proceedings, and other forums with respect to the protection of virtually the entire gamut of IP rights. We regularly obtain patent protection for and advise clients on cutting-edge issues in a broad range of technologies, including chemistry, materials science, electrical, encryption, electronic commerce, mechanical, business method, and software patents, among others. Our trademark attorneys offer the full range of services to protect, preserve, and exploit trademarks, trade dress, and other indicia of origin. We regularly counsel clients concerning enforcement and defensive strategies for trademarks, trade dress, and the broader issues of unfair competition. We also counsel clients on copyright, IP government contracts, and international IP policy. With IP experience both domestically and internationally, Steptoe attorneys represent complainants and respondents in Section 337 investigations involving the full spectrum of intellectual property issues. Our partners have extensive litigation experience in courts throughout the United States and before the US International Trade Commission, and have tried scores of cases to judgment for Fortune 500 companies, midsize companies, and small, emerging high-tech companies.

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

Steptoe’s IP practice and attorneys have received recognition from numerous well-respected attorney guides and industry publications, as well. The firm consistently is recognized for its work with Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by IP Law & Business. Chambers Global 2009 noted that when it comes to Section 337 litigation, the firm’s “reputation is based on its two prominent names, Alice Kipel and Charles Schill, who are warmly recommended for their extensive experience and capabilities.” In May 2008, IP Law & Business published its list of the Top IP People Under 45 and described selected Washington, DC partner Harold Fox as “cooking with energy.” Michelle Cooke, a partner in our Century City office, was recognized as one of the top 10 Trademark Attorneys in California by the Daily Journal in 2008.

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