Intellectual Property Counseling

AV&H serves as a partner to its clients in providing day-to-day intellectual property advice and in formulating long-term strategic plans.  The firm is adept at providing creative solutions that take into account both short-term practicalities and long-term litigation and other legal considerations.  For example, the firm evaluates patent issues in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, industrial equipment, theatrical lighting equipment, medical devices, packaging, printing, consumer goods, electrical devices, chemicals and computer software and hardware.  The firm evaluates threats by competitors regarding patent and trademark rights.  AV&H also prepares opinions relating to the infringement and validity of patents. AV&H provides ongoing advice and services to clients regarding the acquisition, management and enforcement of intellectual property portfolios.

AV&H is often intimately involved with the product development process, assisting clients in navigating around the intellectual property rights of competitors and in designing their own patent strategies.  For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, the firm regularly evaluates proposed drug formulations, assesses patent infringement and validity issues and advises clients regarding strategies for launching such products and defending against challenges.  AV&H also evaluates strategies for protecting the innovations that result from this process.  For a medical devices client, AV&H evaluated the client’s issued patents and pending patent applications and provided guidance as to the types of claims to pursue at the PTO that would be most effective in future litigation against the client’s competitors.

In other industries, AV&H provides similar counseling services regarding the defense of patent and trademark claims, and the protection of intellectual property rights.  AV&H lawyers have provided opinion letters and related counseling services to clients involved in the design of sporting goods and apparel, optical scanning equipment, industrial equipment, industrial clean rooms, phone and gift cards, printing equipment, tools and hardware and e-commerce websites.

Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider also offers clients the highest level of skills and experience in dealing with both the traditional and emerging intellectual property issues of corporate transactions.  AV&H attorneys perform intellectual property due diligence, audits and analyses and provide related counseling services in the context of all major corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture-capital/private-equity financing, public offerings, license agreements and other types of contracts.  These services include the analysis and risk assessment of intellectual property portfolios and contractual clauses such as representations and warranties of noninfringement.  AV&H provides due diligence services in:  chemical fields, including pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals; mechanical fields, including tools, hardware, medical devices, printing equipment and sporting goods; and select electrical fields, including computer hardware and software and telecommunications.

AV&H is especially active in matters involving the intersection of the antitrust and patent laws, drawing upon the firm’s extensive counseling experience and litigation skills in both fields.  The firm has evaluated claims involving the accumulation of patent rights in industries such as pharmaceuticals, packaging, cable television and herbicides, as well as the refusal to license critical inputs to downstream competitors.  AV&H also actively counsels clients in the pharmaceutical industry regarding antitrust issues arising from the settlement of patent and Hatch-Waxman exclusivity disputes.  In addition to providing advice regarding such issues, AV&H has also represented clients during FTC investigations involving such agreements. 

AV&H also negotiates and drafts technology-related agreements, such as patent and software licenses, joint development and technology sharing arrangements, and employee and vendor confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.  In one case, AV&H successfully negotiated and drafted a comprehensive patent pooling and licensing arrangement involving numerous patents and complex business issues.  The firm also assists clients in implementing intellectual property audit and compliance programs.