Patents

Patent-protected innovation continues to drive economic growth and global competitiveness. Domestic and international patent protection and enforcement are fundamental to any effective business strategy.

Loeb & Loeb helps clients around the world define, defend and exploit their intellectual property through a full range of patent litigation, prosecution, licensing, technology transfer, due diligence and strategic counseling services.

Our team combines the highest caliber of legal proficiency in patent law and trial-ready advocacy to provide invention-to-litigation resources for clients across a wide spectrum of technology sectors. From pharmaceuticals, biotechnologies and medical devices to computer software, semiconductors, consumer products and electronics, we serve innovators in a diverse array of industries. Our experience runs particularly deep in the life sciences, as well as working with fintech enterprises and platforms, including peer-to-peer and alternative lending, blockchain technology, and virtual currency-related businesses.

Many of our patent lawyers have advanced scientific training — Ph.D.s in such fields as virology and molecular and cell biology, and technical degrees in computer science; degrees in mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering; and in biochemistry, immunology and microbiology, among other areas. We understand the science behind our clients’ innovations and leverage this deep technical aptitude to craft tailored IP solutions that help our clients meet their unique business objectives.

Our patent capabilities include:

Our courtroom-tested litigators assert and defend patent claims in federal courts throughout the United States. We’ve served as lead trial counsel in more than 100 patent, trade secret and other technology-related litigation, including defending against infringement actions brought by nonpracticing entities in the Eastern District of Texas and other plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions, and in litigation between competitors seeking to obtain or challenge an exclusive position in the market. We’ve also argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

We counsel clients on the effective use of Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings to protect their IP rights and as a key strategy for defending against parallel patent litigation in federal court. Our patent litigators are equally skilled in using PTAB proceedings — including inter partes reviews (IPR), postgrant reviews, covered business method (CBM) reviews and ex-parte re-examinations — to defend against patent challenges brought by competitors, to secure confirmation of our clients’ patent claims, and to invalidate competitor and third-party patents.

Our team's strong litigation and claims-dispute background allows us to anticipate and mitigate IP risks and provide strategic patent prosecution that maximizes protection and value for our clients' innovations and technologies. We partner with innovators at every stage of the patent process, from determining patentability and conducting patent searches through preparing and filing U.S. and foreign patent applications crafted to secure the strongest protection worldwide.

Clients seek our advice on "freedom to operate" opinions as well as opinions on patent infringement, invalidity and enforceability. Loeb partners with several artificial intelligence firms to create analyses and visualizations of a patent area to help clients identify areas to expand and exploit, and those to avoid. We work with clients to establish in-house patent programs and policies and strategize with across industries and market sectors to help them build and take full competitive advantage of their patent portfolios.

Loeb’s patent lawyers work with major branded drug companies, biotechnology firms and medical device manufacturers in order to obtain, protect and monetize the companies’ IP assets, achieve their business objectives and protect their products against market inroads by generics. We handle all phases of Paragraph IV disputes under the Hatch-Waxman Act, including litigating the infringement, validity and enforceability of patents. Our team also provides a range of services that include pre-litigation strategy and counsel, IPR and other postgrant proceedings, due diligence in connection with corporate and commercial transactions, and sophisticated advice on FDA exclusivity policies and FTC oversight of settlements and orphan drug rules.

Loeb has a deep bench of professionals across the United States and China focused on helping science-based companies take full competitive advantage of patent portfolios through corporate partnering, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and other commercial transactions. We have partnered with pharmaceutical specialists, business consultants, researchers and in-house counsel to facilitate hundreds of transactions across various technologies and at all stages of product development. Our team is well-versed in the business, regulatory and commercial issues inherent in these transactions — from both the buy- and sell-side perspectives — with the ability to call on a team of IP, regulatory, reimbursement, tax, antitrust and other lawyers and professionals as needed.