| |
Morgan & Finnegan has particular expertise in IP matters pertaining to computer and telecommunications technology and software. We serve a wide range of clients: multinational hardware and software vendors, small enterprises, start-ups and individual inventors.
We were among the first to argue matters concerning computer systems -- as early as the 1940s -- and we continue to do so today. In fact, some 70 percent of this practice group is devoted to litigation in federal and state courts and Courts of Appeal, particularly before the Federal Circuit and International Trade Commission. And we are involved in the entire array of IP matters. We prosecute patents, create defensible portfolios and negotiate licensing agreements and enforce them aggressively. We are routinely involved in counseling clients on trade secret and copyright protection of hardware and software. Our validity, infringement and enforceability opinions are authoritative and of the highest quality.
We handle matters involving computer hardware and peripherals, software, memory devices, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, semiconductors, electrical and electronic devices and digital rights. Our specialties within the electronics arena include radar systems, aircraft electronics, electrical motors, robotics and consumer products such as audio and visual electronic devices. In the area of software, we implement copyright registration programs in the United States and abroad. Morgan & Finnegan routinely advises clients on validity and infringement of software patents in diverse fields such as computer networks, CASE and CAD systems, windowing, operating systems, industrial and consumer application programs, image processing, graphics, facsimile machines, general ledger accounting, modem control and many more. The firm's software licensing responsibilities range from negotiating individual deals for clients to ongoing, across-the-board representation of software and database suppliers.
In a recent matter, we successfully represented IBM against a charge of infringing four complex computer patents in the area of data storage, memory control and data routing. Through effective use of discovery, Markman rulings and summary judgment, we were able to reduce the issues for trial so that, in the words of the district court judge, "there [was] not very much to try in this case." Most of the claims were eventually dropped. In this matter, we also pioneered a number of innovative strategies for defending against patent trolls.
We recently mounted successful defenses of IBM against patent infringement claims relating to virus detection and in infringement counterclaims with regard to seven IBM patents in various aspects of computer technology. In addition, we have successfully defended a variety of companies in patent cases involving computer animation, video games and computer printers.
|
Printable Version
