Prosecution and trademark
Let us help you design and implement a sound intellectual property strategy, built on the foundation of your business’s vision for the future.
UTILITY PATENTS
We will help you identify and evaluate your company’s intangible assets, and then work with you to develop and pursue an effective IP strategy that takes your organization’s goals, priorities, and market into account.
We stand by your side to draft, file, and prosecute the utility and design patent applications. These applications will go on to protect your company’s R&D investments and will define your firm’s innovative contribution to the market, generating value over time. It’s critical to get them right.
Rock IP files and prosecutes U.S. and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) foreign utility patent applications, including provisional and non-provisional applications. We will work with you to develop an ideal strategy that protects early-stage ideas and gives you the space you need to evaluate which patents to pursue.
We coordinate with our counterparts abroad to pursue a global prosecution strategy. At every stage of prosecution, our firm keeps your business goals and priorities front and center. They are our guiding principle.
Our experience spans nearly every industry sector, including semiconductors, additive manufacturing, robotics, consumer electronics, computer software, business methods, medical devices, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and industrial manufacturing.
DESIGN PATENTS
Too many companies pursue a flawed IP strategy that focuses excessively on utility patents—those that cover an invention’s unique functionality and use. As a result, they may not take advantage of design patents, which protect the style or appearance of a product.
Design patents are a critically important—and underused—way to protect the look and feel of your products. They have the potential to protect valuable aspects of your business’s products at a significantly lower cost than utility patent applications.
Rock IP can consult, evaluate, and recommend ways to strengthen the protection of your company’s design assets. Your organization has poured time and attention into shaping the customer experience of its products through their look and feel. Obtaining design patents is an ideal way to protect that investment.
Talk with the Rock IP team to review your company’s design patent options.
TRADEMARKS
Today, your company’s brand is everything. A strong brand turns customers into fans and creates loyal and productive employees. You have worked hard to define your company’s values and built its reputation step by step. You know that there is no shortcut to creating an authentic, appealing brand.
When competitors attempt to ride your coattails by improperly using your trademarks, it’s a threat to the heart of your business. Defining and defending your business’s trademarks through obtaining trademark rights is crucial.
Put our team’s expertise to work for you and take a strategic approach to choosing, clearing, and prosecuting the right trademarks for your company’s brand, objectives, and market position.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Growth is beautiful—but it often comes with increasing complexity in the form of new products and innovations. As your company grows, ensure that your IP portfolio aligns with your company’s vision and objectives. We can help you understand how to make your IP assets work for you.
Our firm of IP specialists cares about your business’s success. We partner with you to develop and manage your IP assets, deploying a sophisticated approach to accomplish your organization’s objectives.
OPINIONS AND COUNSELING
Technology is an ever-changing frontier. To compete, you need a team of experts to guide you through the complexities of global intellectual property law—experts driven by the same thing you are: your company’s long-term success.
From tactical decisions, like whether to apply for a given patent, to outlining a full-scale IP strategy, Rock IP offers transactional and prelitigation opinions and counseling including patentability opinions, invalidity opinions, and freedom to operate opinions. We never forget that we’re in this together.
PATENT MINING AND MAPPING – LANDSCAPING
Getting the view of how your company’s IP fits into the larger landscape of your industry is powerful. It reveals weaknesses, identifies potential threats, and highlights untapped opportunities. The only way to get this kind of perspective is to step back and survey the whole landscape.
Patent mining, mapping, and landscaping are important components of your organization’s strategic development. The first step is to conduct a detailed search for relevant existing patents and products across the world. The next step is organizing that data into an understandable format—a map that clarifies how your company’s existing IP portfolio and expertise fits into the current market.
The data is of limited use, however, without clear-eyed analysis. Using this data, we analyze the competitive landscape, identify whitespace in the market, and make recommendations to help you determine the company’s strategic direction. It takes IP knowledge and industry expertise to turn your industry’s current patent landscape into a treasure map.
Let the Rock IP team show you what’s possible—and help you plan a route toward industry dominance.
DUE DILIGENCE AND IP ACQUISITIONS
When you’re considering a strategic alliance, a merger, or an acquisition of rights to another firm’s technology, you need an accomplished team at your side to identify issues or barriers and to help you resolve them to your advantage.
Due diligence’s importance extends well beyond acquisitions. Rock IP makes it easier for our clients to make the right decisions at business-defining moments, from raising the next round of funding to outlining your exit strategy. We handle due diligence and compliance issues so that you’re ready to take advantage of opportunity.
When every detail matters, trust Rock IP.
LICENSING
Some of your firm’s IP asset portfolio may be able to generate additional revenue streams through licensing agreements with other companies. But how can you be sure you’re making the best licensing decisions for your company’s industry, current goals, market headwinds, and other factors?
At Rock IP, we believe that the best way to take advantage of licensing opportunities is to see them in the context of the business’s larger vision and goals. In some instances, it’s in your firm’s best interest to extend licenses to another company. In other cases, taking a license from another business is the right course of action. It may be in your business’s best interest to consider a licensing program.
The Rock IP team is well-versed in addressing a wide range of global licensing issues, from a simple single license agreement to a comprehensive alignment with another firm. We’ll help you formulate the best course of action so that you can proceed with confidence. Whether your needs call for drafting license agreements, advising on joint development agreements, or evaluating another firm’s licensing offer, the Rock IP team stands with you.
