Mayer Brown LLP
Intellectual Property

Innovators at global multinationals, emerging growth companies and established mid-sized businesses all rely on Mayer Brown to help protect, preserve and enforce their intellectual property assets. Our lawyers select the right options to fit each client’s business strategy, whether they are assessing an IP portfolio, performing due diligence for an acquisition, securing a patent, trademark, trade secret or copyright, or using litigation to resolve business disputes over infringement or misappropriation. We help our clients protect their investment, increase their market share, and strengthen their competitive advantage. We are true interactive partners with every client.

Mayer Brown takes a multi-disciplinary approach to today's emerging issues in the development, protection and exploitation of intellectual property assets. We are uniquely positioned with a full-service IP practice that is fully integrated with other practices, providing antitrust guidance on transactions and competition disputes and unsurpassed appellate capabilities before the federal courts, the US Supreme Court and international tribunals. Because today’s economy transcends national borders, we offer comprehensive assistance in key business centers around the world.

At the heart of our practice is what clients call an “extremely supportive and accessible” team (Chambers USA) composed of “strong lawyers” (Chambers Europe) who are “creative” and “marvelously commercial” (Chambers UK). This global capability encompasses a large team of IP practitioners, located throughout the United States (with many of them admitted before the US Patent and Trademark Office) and in each of the key European business centers, particularly London and Frankfurt. Furthermore, our recent merger with Johnson Stokes & Master, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Asia, gives us a strong seven-office presence in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, we have relationships with firms around the globe to help us meet our clients’ worldwide IP needs.

Chambers Global recently ranked us in the top tier, noting both our “impressive litigation credentials” and “outstanding reputation in soft IP.” (Chambers Global 2009).

Practice at a Glance
* Full service practice with experience in a wide range of areas, including: Litigation & Enforcement, Counseling & Prosecution, and Transactions.
* Broad experience in a range of industries, including: advertising & marketing, biotech & pharmaceuticals, chemicals, communications & telecommunications, high tech, software, financial services, food & drink, and media, entertainment & sports
* Global presence, with practitioners in the US, Europe and Asia

Intellectual Property Counseling & Prosecution

Mayer Brown has an active intellectual property counseling and prosecution practice in the United States and in Europe, particularly for obtaining patents, trademarks and copyrights that are essential to protecting our clients valuable business assets. Many of our lawyers have technical degrees in the areas of chemistry, life sciences, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science. In fact, many were previously employed as scientists and engineers in academia, government and industry. This wide range of technical backgrounds and hands-on experience enables us to understand the most complex technical issues encountered in intellectual property prosecution.

We provide our intellectual property clients with a comprehensive life cycle approach to their IP portfolio. We integrate our services for the market development, prosecution, and enforcement of trademarks, copyrights and patents with a business eye for competitive needs years into the future. By taking such a complete approach to IP portfolio management, we can begin to protect IP assets from the moment of creation and help clients build a profitable IP portfolio.

We have a true global counseling and prosecution practice. Our large team of IP practitioners is located throughout the United States and in key European business centers, London and Frankfurt. Our recent merger with Johnson Stokes & Master, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Asia, gives us a strong seven-office presence in East Asia. Our global network is further strengthened by relationships with foreign lawyers to assist our clients with protecting their IP assets.

Our lawyers work closely with other firm practice groups to ensure maximum tax advantage, effective licensing protection, and the securitization of revenue streams from intellectual property assets.

Practice at a Glance
* Full service practice with experience in a wide range of areas, including: Patent Prosecution & Portfolio Management; Trademark Prosecution & Portfolio Management; Trade Secret Protection
* Our lawyers have technical backgrounds and hands-on experience in a wide range of areas including bio chemistry, life sciences, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science
* Global presence, with practitioners in US, Europe and Asia

Intellectual Property Litigation & Enforcement

No matter what the court or forum, Mayer Brown has the capabilities to protect intellectual property assets from infringers and to defend against claims of infringement. We have represented clients in trial and appellate courts throughout the United States and Europe, and before domestic and international alternative dispute resolution forums. Our definition of winning in IP litigation is to achieve our clients’ business objectives.

Our IP litigation approach combines aggressive representation at trial, effective argument on appeal, and skilled negotiation to achieve competitive goals. As a leading international law firm, we offer clients the benefits of an experienced team spanning the US, Europe, and Asia; the #1 ranked Supreme Court and Appellate practice; and premier Electronic Discovery & Records Management capabilities.

Practice at a Glance

* Full service practice with experience in a wide range of areas, including: Patent Litigation, Trademark Litigation, Copyright Litigation, ITC 337 Actions, Industrial Design Litigation

* Skillful team. Clients around the world praise our litigation group. In Chambers USA, clients say our litigation team is “always up to the task . . . efficiently handling every case that comes its way.” Chambers also reported that clients described our IP litigators as “phenomenal,” “high energy,” “superb strategist[s]” and “brilliant in bringing together all the issues.” Likewise, Chambers Europe has praised our European practice as a consistently providing “high quality work.” Our Asia practice is noted in Chambers Global for being “a player in China, up there in terms of volume and dedication within the IP field.”

* Full service. At Mayer Brown, IP litigation capability is fully integrated with essential counseling support. We are particularly effective helping clients navigate the increasingly close intersection between intellectual property and antitrust in the US and Europe, where we have played a key role in influencing the development of antitrust policy related to licensing. In transactional matters, we help growing companies accelerate their market penetration through strategic business combinations and alliances. With the oldest and largest Supreme Court & Appellate practice group in the US, Mayer Brown is unsurpassed at appellate practice. By combining our appellate skill with the technical capabilities of the firm’s global IP group, our appellate team is well qualified to handle IP matters in any forum – from the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court in the US to the Federal Patent Court and Federal Supreme Court in Germany.

* Global perspective. Mayer Brown’s IP litigators are located in our offices throughout the US and Europe. We recently merged with Johnson Stokes & Master, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Asia, giving us a strong seven-office presence in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand and Vietnam. We have unequaled litigation capabilities in Germany and are active in the courts of the United Kingdom and France, as well as in the European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance. In East Asia, our commercial arbitration and conciliation team represents clients in international litigation throughout the world. We also collaborate with respected regional law firms that have offices across Europe and Latin America. This gives our clients access to top-tier IP litigation services worldwide. Multilateral dispute resolution is a special strength of our practice, emphasizing experience before the International Trade Commission, the American Arbitration Association, and the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Intellectual Property Transactions

Mayer Brown’s Intellectual Property Transactions lawyers help companies accomplish their business goals through strategic business combinations and alliances. Our transactional experience includes mergers and acquisitions designed to assist clients in capitalizing on a companies’ IP strengths, as well as securitizations, licensing agreements and joint ventures that both exploit and leverage a company’s intellectual property rights.

Using the resources of one of the world’s leading structured finance practices, Mayer Brown was in the forefront of the securitization of IP assets with representing the underwriters of future royalty streams from music portfolios and continues to structure offerings involving numerous copyrighted works and trademark rights. We see opportunities other firms don’t – and help our clients take advantage of them.

Whether the transaction is a licensing arrangement, merger, joint venture or some other arrangement, we advise on the regulatory and antitrust implications as well as the IP issues. Our firm is unsurpassed at helping clients navigate the increasingly congested intersection between intellectual property and antitrust, both in the US and Europe. One of our lawyers was involved in drafting the 1995 DOJ and FTC Guidelines on the Licensing of Intellectual Property, which also influenced EU antitrust policies. We provide companies with effective insight on structuring intellectual property rights pools and distribution agreements (including field of use, geographic, and price restraints) in ways to avoid problems with competition laws.

Practice at a Glance
* Full service practice with experience in a wide range of areas including: IP Securitizations and Corporate Transactions
* Global presence, with practitioners in the US, Europe and Asia

Mayer Brown LLP
700 Louisiana St #3400
Houston TX 77002-2730
Tel: 713 238-3000
Fax: 713 238-4888
Comments: 0
Votes:34