Companies in the software and electronics sectors face fierce competitive pressures in today’s economic environment. Clients are always on the lookout for ways to maximize the value of their intellectual property portfolio and the benefits of legal services provided by IP counsel. In this environment, our clients rely on us for the following reasons:
Our IP Practice works closely with the firm’s other business practices, especially Corporate & Finance, Tax, Bankruptcy, Energy, and Government Contracts. With this robust cross-disciplinary approach, our IP attorneys understand the business side of an issue rather than narrowly focusing on the technology. The result is that Dickstein provides impactful business-oriented advice in a creative, multidisciplinary manner. For example, our IP team helped a small software start-up identify key patent claims and then successfully built a patent portfolio of blocking patents that reduced the list of company competitors and raised its market value.
Strategic thinking is the hallmark of Dickstein Shapiro’s culture. Our attorneys are trained in all IP disciplines and in handling every related matter type. A fifth-year IP associate working on a client’s litigation, for example, often has had at least one to two years of solid patent prosecution training and experience. This comprehensive approach to IP training, coupled with the firm’s interdisciplinary approach to problem solving, better enables our attorneys to see the forest for the trees. As a result, our attorneys can more easily strategize with our client’s legal and business teams. For example, our IP team, working with our bankruptcy and corporate attorneys, assisted a venture capital client in the strategic purchase of a middle-stage software/electronics manufacturer out of bankruptcy. Our IP attorneys developed a long-term IP plan that had the new entity obtain exclusive licenses to key patents and then had IP group litigators successfully enforce those patents against major competitors. The strategy worked, and today the company is a stable and successful market leader.
We have always focused on cost-efficient, effective legal representation. The firm’s growth and success are based on our willingness to explore new areas of law and new financial approaches to our client work. Whether in representing accused persons before the U.S. Supreme Court during the height of the McCarthy era or developing the first class-action cases in the pharmaceutical arena in the 1970’s, the firm is always looking for cost-efficient and imaginative ways to provide the most effective client service. For example, our IP team helped a client successfully monetize an underutilized portion of its patent portfolio, find a purchaser for certain targeted patents, and structure the sale. The firm’s fees were tied to the transaction’s success, and the end result was a “win-win.”