Intellectual Property

Steptoe's Intellectual Property practice enforces, protects, and develops the intellectual property rights and assets of clients in a wide range of industries in the United States and abroad. We understand clients' top priorities, including responsiveness, efficiency, and budgeting. With lawyers in Beijing, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, our full-service practice includes:

• IP Litigation: Our seasoned litigators have backgrounds in science and technology, and many hold Ph.D. and master's degrees in pertinent disciplines. They are able to translate technical details into easily understood and successfully persuasive positions. Our team routinely litigates patent, trade secret, proprietary information and processes, unfair competition, copyright, trademark, service mark, trade dress, gray market, false advertising, and related issues in state and federal courts throughout the country.
• Section 337 Litigation: We are adept at arguing Section 337 cases before the International Trade Commission (ITC). With decades of experience, our IP litigators collaborate with members of our government affairs group and international trade practice when necessary to structure compelling arguments and obtain beneficial results.
• Trade Secrets: Trade secret misappropriation has exploded in the tech industry where innovations occur faster than the speed with which startups can implement legal protections. We help clients assess the value of their confidential, proprietary formulas, manufacturing and business processes, methods of operation, business strategies, and customer information. We help them determine how best to protect and recover trade secrets, obtain compensation if trade secrets are misappropriated, and avoid and defend against misappropriation claims.
• Appellate Court: We develop a complete patent litigation strategy that includes setting our clients up for success should the outcome of the trial be appealed. Appellate cases are handled by nationally recognized Federal Circuit specialists, including many of our Houston-based lawyers who have clerked for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and attorneys in our New York and Washington, DC offices who have clerked for the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. When we represent clients at the appellate level, we bring a fresh approach to the review of the trial procedures and decisions in question.
• Patent Portfolio Development: Our registered patent attorneys and highly skilled patent agents protect the ideas of companies, universities, and individuals, and help to establish and sustain their intellectual property economically and strategically. Our group helps align our clients’ IP and business strategies, and builds and protects their IP assets by prosecuting, managing, and licensing new discoveries worldwide.
• Post-Grant Proceedings: Steptoe was one of the first law firms to file petitions for inter partes review (IPR) in September 2012. Since then, we have represented clients in filing or defending against well over 120 IPRs and ex parte Our team has been successful in using post -grant activities to drive settlement of pending district court litigations.
• Trademarks: We offer comprehensive brand protection to our clients in the form of trademark counseling and prosecution, enforcement, and litigation services. We manage trademark portfolios for some of the top US and global brands. As companies seek to expand their brands into international markets, we work with industry leaders to develop new IP strategies.
• Copyright Protection: We advise clients in a broad range of issues relating to the acquisition, transfer, exploitation, negotiation, preservation, and protection of their rights in copyrightable works. We draw on our extensive experience in all aspects of media, entertainment, and technology law to litigate high-profile matters relating to cutting-edge copyright issues.
• Online and New Media: We work with clients to navigate their intellectual property rights online and in new media. This includes addressing the challenges they encounter when using social media platforms to conduct business and communicate with customers, as well as registering and protecting their company’s domain name. We also craft policies and agreements for use of their website, user generated content, and personal data, as well as formulating internal compliance procedures and audits.