We are one of the nation’s leading intellectual property and technology law firms, securing hundreds of patents every year for some of the world’s largest, most innovative companies. In the most recent rankings of the nation’s top IP law firms, we were ranked 18th for the total number of utility patents issued in 2020 among over 700 firms.

With a focus on patent preparation and prosecution since our beginning in 1996, we have formed decades-long partnerships with companies such as Applied Materials, IBM, Disney Pixar, Weatherford, ExxonMobil, and Western Digital. We serve as extended, trusted members of the companies’ legal and R&D departments, working seamlessly together to build, leverage, and protect their IP assets.

Deep Technical Expertise

As engineers, scientists, and IP specialists with hands-on work experience in a diverse range of technology areas, our attorneys speak the language of technology and innovation. Our broad base of technical expertise enables us to prosecute patents for virtually any technology. For many clients, we serve as a single source of patent expertise for an array of technical inventions.

Highly Collaborative Approach

We don’t work in practice silos. Instead, our team of nearly 80 patent prosecutors collaborates across technical disciplines—combining different skill sets, technical expertise, and personality types—to ensure we achieve the best results for our clients, never wasting time or resources.

We secure strong, commercially significant patents by:

  • Conducting in-person, in-depth interviews with inventors, asking the right questions to understand the technology and what is truly novel about the invention
  • Reviewing prototypes and drawings
  • Attending engineering reviews and brainstorms
  • Exploring not just the technology, but the client’s business, including goals and budget constraints
  • Prioritizing IP opportunities and devising comprehensive, customized patent strategies, including whether, how, and where to file for patent protection

Sophisticated Services at Competitive Rates

Our depth of resources and advanced systems enable us to handle high-volume caseloads and efficiently manage large, diverse patent portfolios. For many of our established clients, we manage entire multi-million-dollar patent portfolios. We work with a network of patent firms around the world, overseeing international patent portfolios for many of our global clients.

With the majority of our patent attorneys based in low-cost-of-living cities, we can provide competitive rates without compromising our work product. While we value hands-on partnerships with clients and inventors by meeting in person when appropriate, we believe it should be at no cost to the client. Our service model, firm structure, and established processes enable us to provide the service, expertise, and value clients need to achieve their business goals.


Related Team:

David Y. Ashton

Associate

Andrew Ashton

Associate

Orson Bell

Associate

James Bender

Of Counsel

Jordan Brown

Associate

Grant Buchanan, Ph.D.

Associate

Kyrie Cameron

Partner

Yi Chen

Technical Advisor

John-Paul F. Cherry, Ph.D.

Patent Agent

Abhishek Chopra

Patent Agent

Carleton Clauss

Partner

Archibald Cruz

Associate

Grant Davis

Associate

Puja Detjen

Partner

Chad Dougherty

Partner

Jordyn Dougherty

Associate

Shuya Duan

Associate

Patrick Garrett

Of Counsel

Hope Glembo

Associate

Austin Gray

Associate

Marcus Hammack

Partner

Simon J Harrall

Associate

Payton Hashemi

Of Counsel

Michael Henn

Associate

Jessie D. Herrera, Jr.

Partner

Jason C. Huang

Partner

David Huang

Associate

John Johannes

Associate

Mitchel Jones

Partner

Eric Jones

Associate

Tristan Kaskoun

Associate

Preston Kent

Of Counsel

Edward H. Kiessling, IV

Counsel

Thomas D. Kiselak

Associate

Paul Klecha

Associate

Zack Klein

Associate

Jessica Kostyo

Technical Advisor

Theodosios Kountotsis

Of Counsel

Malgorzata (Gosia) A. Kulczycka, Ph.D., J.D.

Partner

Johnny Lam

Associate

Michael Lew

Associate

David Lovell

Of Counsel

J. Mitchell Lowe

Associate

J. Scott Martin

Counsel

Gero G. McClellan

Partner

Daniel McGovern

Associate

Daniel McManus

Of Counsel

Josh Monaghan

Counsel

Eric Moore

Partner

Neil Morrissette

Of Counsel

Stephanie Moser

Associate

Josh Noles

Associate

Michael Pate

Of Counsel

W. Bruce Patterson

Partner, Practice Head

Aaron Perkins

Associate

Randol Read

Partner

Steven E. Roberts

Partner

Kevin Rollins

Of Counsel

Sammy Samman

Patent Agent

Harmeena Sandhu

Technical Advisor

Ryan Sandor

Technical Advisor

Kelley Sheehan

Associate

James A. Sheridan

Retired Partner

Tom Shortledge

Patent Agent

Chance Siller

Associate

Reese Sloan

Technical Advisor

Charles E. Smith

Of Counsel

Nicholas Smith, Ph.D.

Partner

Joe Stevens

Partner

Jon K. Stewart

Retired Partner

Keith Taboada

Partner

Keith Tackett

Retired Partner

Frank Tolin

Of Counsel

Adam Treiber

Of Counsel

Brooks Tueting

Partner

Donald Verplancken

Partner

Veronica Verplancken

Patent Agent

Steve VerSteeg

Partner

Mitch Walsh

Patent Agent

Xuezheng “John” Wang, Ph.D.

Associate

Craig Williams

Associate

Fumiko Yamaguchi, Ph.D.

Patent Agent

Charles Yeh

Partner

Valerie Yu

Associate

Sepp Zangeneh

Partner

People

Case Studies

Publications

Patent Design