Ice Miller IP attorneys are grounded in technology (with nearly all of them holding undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in technical fields), experienced in the various facets of IP law, and pragmatic in working with business owners to chart the best possible business solution for the client’s IP issues.
Ice Miller's patent law practice offers experienced patent counsel in nearly every technical discipline. Our clients range from the innovative start-up business with a novel product idea to established companies seeking to protect their hard-won market share through a patent acquisition and enforcement program.
Ice Miller’s IP Group attorneys assist clients in developing and protecting their inventions, including counseling clients in preparing guidelines for documentation of inventions and setting up in-house patent review committees and inventor incentive award programs. We conduct freedom-to-operate and patentability assessments for our clients, and assist our clients by performing IP due diligence, third-party portfolio assessments, and patent landscape analyses and procuring IP assets, as well as drafting and negotiating IP licenses. We have assisted several significant research institutions in monetization of patent portfolios and complex patent licenses, taking into consideration issues presented by related agreements with public and private institutions. We represent clients on both sides of Inter Partes Reviews, Covered Business Method Reviews, and other proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). We also handle the domestic and international patent portfolios of companies and universities in a wide range of fields.
The team at Ice Miller has considerable experience at the preparation and filing of documents necessary to secure rights to inventions/discoveries in the U.S. and abroad. (We are currently handling patent matters in virtually every country). During patent application preparation, our technical degreed attorneys work directly with the inventors to ensure we have an accurate understanding of the invention. In addition, our patent litigation experience is reflected in our patent prosecution practice. For example, we understand the importance of filing claims that balance the desire for broad claim scope with the understanding that amendment during prosecution can create prosecution history estoppel and eliminate doctrine of equivalents claim scope.