Patents are the core competence of HLG. Its professionals are informed in their patent preparation and prosecution by their hands-on experience and decision-making both that discipline and the different one of patent enforcement. They are further informed by their experience and continuing roles in understanding and advancing business interests in various industries.

Even among the subset of valuable ideas that are inventions eligible for patent protection – traditionally the “strongest” IP (enforceable against even those who did not copy) – there are many options among the various national and regional jurisdictions. These include utility patents (the most common), utility models (not available in the U.S. but very effective in China and Europe), and design patents (noted for their value in the smartphone patent war).

HLG professionals are expert in Identifying and framing inventions for appropriate claiming – informed by enforcement considerations as detectability of infringement, liability of appropriate parties and scope afforded by various jurisdictions. And they are sensitive to the different business cases and appropriate efforts for “pioneer” patents which may dominate new technologies and industries, “platform” patents which may define a market or brand, and “portfolio” patents which may be used to defend a market or brand and be cross-licensed.

The U.S. patent ecosystem has undergone an upheaval in the last decade, including increased scrutiny of “subject matter eligibility” for U.S. utility patents which has filtered out many patent claims for software, diagnostic methods and (merely) purified human DNA. HLG professionals manage this inquiry with experience from earlier times of anti-software-patenting sentiment and with deep understanding of current policy considerations.

In addition to experience in the traditional USPTO proceedings of reexamination and appeal of rejections of applications, HLG professionals have substantial and growing experience representing both petitioners and patent owners in the relatively new, but disruptive inter parties review (“IPR”) before the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). We are uniquely qualified to practice before PTAB’s administrative law judges who are patent lawyers, not only because of our technological and patent examination expertise, but because of our oral and written advocacy skills and strategies honed in court litigation.