With increasing competition, regulatory complexity, and the growing role of IP in corporate transactions, your patent strategy needs to be more than protectiveꟷit must be proactive and fully aligned with your business goals. Bodman’s Patent Group helps clientsꟷfrom global manufacturers to R&D late stage venturesꟷleverage their innovation through strategic patent counseling, prosecution, and portfolio management.

Our patent attorneys are former engineers who provide strategic counsel and guidance on domestic and foreign patent procurement, licensing, and enforcement strategies. We manage patent portfolios in a wide range of technologies, including mechanical and electrical innovations in a variety of industries. We also advise clients on patentability, validity, and freedom-to-operate issues, as well as transactional matters involving the development, use, and ownership of intellectual property assets.

We have particular experience advising automotive suppliers in the unique aspects of implementing supplier-focused technology protection strategies and supporting related transactions. We also have significant experience managing patent and industrial design protection for medical devices, military equipment, and consumer electronics.

Organizations both public and private, from Fortune 500 to entrepreneurial start-ups, turn to Bodman for strategic counsel on the commercialization and protection of their ideas and other creative work product. Bodman’s patent attorneys work seamlessly with other members of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group to protect our clients’ interests. Learn more about Bodman’s Intellectual Property practice here.

Services

Members of Bodman’s Patent Group partner with clients on a broad range of activities that help them identify, procure, enforce, and license their patent assets.

Representative services include:

• Strategic development and global management of patent portfolios
• Preparation and prosecution of utility and design patent applications, tailored to optimize coverage while managing pendency timing and cost
• Patent landscape analyses to uncover opportunities, monitor competitors, and assess infringement risks
• Legal opinions on patent validity, non-infringement, and enforceability
• Trade secret protection counseling and implementation
• Customized internal IP training programs for in-house legal and technical teams
• Freedom-to-operate assessments for new products and services, including collaborative design-around strategies
• IP due diligence for mergers, acquisitions, investments, and divestitures
• Drafting and negotiating joint development, licensing, and other IP-related commercial and technology agreements

Representative Matters

Representative matters handled by members of Bodman’s Patent Practice Group include the following:

• Advising international Tier-1 automotive suppliers on patent and trademark portfolio development and management matters, including obtaining several patents in key product technologies to strategically expand their patent portfolios
• Advising a Tier-1 automotive supplier on the development and implementation of an intellectual property policy and invention disclosure system
• Drafting and prosecuting hundreds of patent applications and managing filing, prosecution, and maintenance of international patent families
• Representing a venture-backed, medical device company through a complex patent clearance on a miniaturized surgical robot for abdominal surgical procedures
• Assisting in the defense of several oppositions to related European patents that were part of a multi-venue patent enforcement dispute
• Obtaining a patent portfolio for a start-up company that was successfully enforced and later acquired
• Conducting clearance evaluations and preparing and prosecuting patent applications for a Fortune 100 automotive company, including significant work on adjustable seating assemblies and semiautonomous vehicle navigation control systems
• Preparing and prosecuting patent applications on water filtration and ice making devices for home appliance products of a Fortune 500 company