The Intellectual Property and Technology practice group at CTW offers clients a full range of legal services relating to the acquisition, enforcement and commercial exploitation of intellectual property assets, including litigation; counseling; technology transfer, outsourcing and licensing agreements and other transaction-related services; patent and technology portfolio strategy analysis; and trademark and copyright registration. Practice group attorneys are active in numerous intellectual property associations and committees, and write frequently on cutting-edge topics.

TRADEMARKS
We assist clients in obtaining, protecting, and enforcing trademarks in the United States and worldwide, including conducting and reviewing searches and investigations for trademark clearance, preparing opinion letters, filing and prosecuting trademark applications, handling the prosecution and defense of trademark administrative proceedings, monitoring and policing the use of trademarks by third parties, and providing general trademark and domain name counseling. As part of this practice, we manage the domestic and international trademark portfolios and related intellectual property matters for a wide range of clients. We also actively counsel clients regarding Internet domain name acquisition, use, and defense.

COPYRIGHT ~ ENTERTAINMENT ~ NEW MEDIA
We provide copyright advice to a wide range of clients in the online, entertainment, and communications industries, including e-commerce companies, new media entrepreneurs, Internet technology companies, Web site operators, software developers, broadcast and cable television networks, television producers, recording artists, and authors. Our attorneys also have extensive experience with the role of copyrights in the entertainment and communications industries, including film, theater, music, and print and electronic publishing.

PATENT COUNSELING
We advise and assist technology companies in evaluating, securing, and exploiting intellectual property assets, with a particular emphasis on computer software and hardware, semiconductors, telecommunications, Internet and e-commerce, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and health care. Specifically, we counsel clients on (1) developing and deploying a portfolio of strategic intellectual property assets and (2) exploiting those assets by negotiating, drafting, and implementing technology licenses, consulting and development agreements, outsourcing arrangements, joint ventures, and other strategic partnerships. In this regard, we often work closely with our corporate attorneys in connection with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and corporate finance.

TRANSACTIONAL COUNSELING
We offer tremendous experience in transactional work and strategic analysis. Beyond an understanding of intellectual property matters and the science and technology underlying them, we understand the business models used by our clients to maximize the value of these technologies. Attorneys providing strategic counseling serve clients in a business transaction sense, seeking to create or add value to clients’ intellectual property portfolios. We frequently evaluate these portfolios for acquisition and financing matters and provide counseling regarding the drafting of license, option, non-disclosure, collaboration, manufacturing and distribution agreements. Our strategic counseling across industries is enhanced by our extensive experience in validity and infringement analysis in a broad range of technical and scientific subject matters.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE PRACTICE
We handle a wide variety of matters that relate to the creation, use, licensing, and transfer of information technologies. We have experience assisting clients in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Australia, allowing us to analyze these issues from a global perspective.

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING
We handle the entire spectrum of technology licensing arrangements, ranging from traditional license agreements to complex ventures for joint development of applications and systems. For example, we regularly negotiate and advise clients with respect to software licenses, equipment leases, software development and distribution agreements, and network services and data acquisition agreements. Our clients in this area include technology vendors and end-users in the publishing, financial services, transportation, manufacturing, entertainment and telecommunications industries.

OUTSOURCING
We advise clients in connection with the outsourcing of all types of information technology. Our work encompasses all areas of outsourcing, including negotiating and drafting the overall service agreement and the service level agreement, handling any related asset acquisitions, and employment and tax matters.

WEB SITE SUPPORT
Our group routinely counsels clients on all aspects of developing and maintaining a Web site. When our clients are outsourcing these functions, we help negotiate agreements to ensure they receive the services they expect and the ownership rights they require. When our clients are developing these capabilities in-house, we help create intellectual property interests that are protectable and secure any necessary third-party licenses for content or technology. Once a site has been designed, we draft appropriate legal disclaimers, terms and conditions of use, and “click-wrap” agreements. We have experience drafting terms and conditions for a variety of services, including e-commerce, financial services, chat and content distribution.

For more information concerning our I.P. and Technology Law practice, please contact Jonathan Lass.