0569_2.jpgGraham & Dunn's Intellectual Property team focuses the experience of a multidisciplinary team of lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants on the needs of traditional and new technology companies in the areas of intellectual property protection, including enforcement, licensing, corporate planning and tax planning.

Our clients in virtually every industry seek to establish and protect trademarks, inventions, trade secrets, patents and copyrights as essential competitive tools. They benefit from our extensive experience counseling companies on the full spectrum of intellectual property issues.

 

  • TRADEMARKS: We help clients choose, search, register and protect trademarks against infringement and dilution in the marketplace, in print, and online, both domestically and internationally.
  • PATENTS: We assist in procuring utility and design patent protection in the United States for a variety of inventions, including mechanical, electro-mechanical, electronic arts, business methods and industrial designs. We also provide opinions regarding patentability and infringement, and help clients protect their inventions abroad through our network of foreign counsel.
  • TRADE SECRETS: We counsel clients regarding confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, the protection of trade secrets in many contexts and the acquisition of rights from employees, contractors and other parties. Graham & Dunn's employment law professionals work with the Intellectual Property team to counsel clients on non-compete provisions and other IP-related employment matters.
  • COPYRIGHTS: We assist clients in protecting and registering copyrights for audio, video, software, website and database content. We counsel clients on copyright ownership, licensing, royalties, protection against infringement, and the "fair use" of copyrighted materials.
  • IP OWNERSHIP/DUE DILIGENCE: We counsel clients on patent ownership and inventor's assignments of patent rights; copyright ownership, especially in the area of joint authorship and "works made for hire"; trademark ownership and assignments; and the ownership, management and transfer of other IP assets, such as trade secrets, domain names, and rights of publicity. As nearly all business transactions involve at least some IP, we provide IP due diligence in asset purchases and deals and assist or manage the subsequent transfer of IP rights at the deal closing or post-closing.
  • INTERNET ISSUES: The Graham & Dunn Intellectual Property team provides online intellectual property advice in a rapidly-changing legal environment in which traditional trademark and copyright principles are being stretched and challenged by the realities of digital technology--linking, framing, keyword advertising, and the growing world of social media. We counsel clients in the selection, registration, protection, transfer and acquisition of that all-important intellectual property asset--the domain name. We both prosecute and defend domain name disputes.
  • IP AUDITS: We conduct audits of client websites and offer guidance and assistance with issues including ensuring proper online use, identifying and protecting their trademarks and copyrighted materials and those of others, and drafting website terms and conditions and privacy policies.
  • ADVERTISING: We provide legal counsel in the areas of comparative advertising, product pricing, promotions, contests and sweepstakes.
  • PUBLISHING: We advise both authors and publishers on agent contracts and publishing agreements, coach clients in negotiating their own publishing contracts and in navigating the emerging e-book and self-publishing fields, and draft and review publishing agreements for not only books and literary properties, but also theatrical works, audio-visual works, films and music, artworks, photography, websites, software, mobile apps, and mixed-media properties.
  • ENTERTAINMENT: Artists and developers of entertainment media rely on Graham & Dunn for guidance pertaining to:
    • Fair use of the ideas and work of others
    • Clearing trademarks and copyrights used in their work
    • Protecting their work against infringement by others
    • Negotiating licenses and publishing agreements for books, films, television, music, computer and video games, works of visual art and personality rights
  • INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION: We have successfully litigated complex cases involving trademark and trade dress infringement, unfair competition, copyright infringement, and patent infringement, including cases involving many high technology sectors. We provide our clients with crucial procedural, tactical and substantive advice in this rapidly-changing area so that they understand the issues and see that their interests receive maximum protection through rigorous litigation and dispute resolution negotiations.
  • LICENSING (COMMERCIALIZATION): The commercialization of IP rights through licensing is an important part of our work. Our team provides strategic and tactical advice in license negotiations and works with the corporate transactional team to draft license agreements in a cost-effective manner.
  • FRANCHISE AND DISTRIBUTION:  Our clients often seek—through licensing, franchising and similar arrangements—to develop, acquire or share intellectual property rights. We have structured and drafted license and franchise agreements involving trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and know-how, as well as development agreements, scientific cooperation agreements, co-branding agreements and more for such industries as cold storage, beverages, restaurants, and computer software.
  • CORPORATE PLANNING AND FINANCE: Trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights are assets that may be licensed, assigned, transferred as part of a corporate acquisition, or presented as collateral for commercial financing. We help our clients avoid the mistakes many companies make in failing to treat and protect their intellectual property as a valuable asset. Our clients seek to develop and finance new high-growth ventures involving computers and software, telecommunications, web-based services, medical technologies and biotechnology. We work closely with the professionals on Graham & Dunn's Startup and Venture Capital team to provide our clients with comprehensive corporate planning and guidance from pre-incorporation through public offering, which includes structuring complex strategic alliances and venture capital investments.
  • TAX PLANNING:  Particularly with new technology ventures, tax planning opportunities—and pitfalls—abound. The Intellectual Property team works with our firm's finance and tax professionals to alert our clients to opportunities that allow them to incorporate tax-free, to leverage tax benefits associated with technological investment and development, and to minimize adverse tax effects of stock ownership, redemptions, distributions and other adjustments to capital, mergers, and other acquisitions and sales.

Click here for the Intellectual Property team brochure.