Intellectual Property Enforcement, Defense, & Licensing

Lang Patent Law’s first goal is to keep you out of court. By identifying any potential infringement issues or other potential conflicts early, we can help you navigate these issues to prevent a problem from ever occurring. If a problem does occur, properly protecting your rights in advance can help persuade potential infringers to discontinue their activities. Or, if you are accused of infringement, early, thorough analysis of known issues will leave us well-positioned to explain the weaknesses of the other party’s case to their counsel, dissuading them from litigation. We prefer that you focus on commercializing your inventions and growing your business rather than expensive litigation.

People in court

If your case does go to court, the combination of my legal experience, technical experience, and thorough case preparation will ensure that your rights are protected to the maximum extent possible. Intellectual property litigation has unique considerations that require a specialized knowledge of the law, as well as expertise in the technologies at issue. I can assist with patent litigation, trademark litigation, copyright litigation, trade secret litigation, and unfair competition litigation.

Licensing

Lang Patent Law has experience negotiating license agreements in a variety of circumstances, including patent licenses, trademark licenses, and copyright licenses, representing both licensors and licensees. Please note that if you have an invention that you plan to commercialize through licensing, we do not assist with finding licensees or with marketing directed towards potential licensees. We do, however, assist with the license negotiations once you have found a potential licensee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Finding a large company to license your invention is often the route chosen by inventors. Although this route appears simple at first, it is typically very difficult to find a company interested in licensing an invention. Those with the highest chance of success will be those who are recognized experts in their field, and/or those who have a pre-existing relationship with the prospective licensee. Be careful how you present your idea to prospective licensees. Many companies have “idea submission web pages. However, by clicking “submit,” you agree that they are free to use the idea unless it is the subject of an issued patent, making the use of these pages a bad idea. Even without using these pages, you will often be asked to sign an agreement. Some of these agreements are reasonable, some are unreasonable, and all will protect the prospective licensee from liability for using anything that their own employees develop independently. Any document you are asked to sign should be reviewed by your attorney before you sign it. I generally do not recommend the use of “invention promotion” companies. You understand the need for your invention better than anyone else, making you the best person to sell your invention. If you choose to work with these companies, investigate their track record carefully before proceeding.

Anything that you are already doing publicly or commercially is prior art, as well as any patents or published applications you may have. If appropriate, we can file a third-party submission, informing the patent examiner of this prior art, and comparing the features of this prior art to the elements listed in the current claims. This can be done in a manner that does not reveal your identity.

If you are already aware of specific patents held by competitors, we can analyze the claims of these patents and compare them to your invention to ensure that they do not present a risk of infringement. Otherwise, we can perform a freedom to operate search to identify any patents and published applications which potentially present a risk of infringement. We can then prepare a freedom to operate opinion to guide you towards developing your idea without infringing other patents. If published patent applications are discovered, the claims in these applications may or may not resemble the claims of any issued patent that results from those applications. In some cases, risk can quickly and easily be ruled out, but in other cases, the applications must be monitored as they proceed through the patent office. Knowing where the risks of infringement lie can guide your research and development to avoid these risks.