Shawn K. Leppo
Helps businesses protect and leverage innovation. Guides IP protection and portfolio strategy. Advises on patent risk avoidance, enforcement, and transactions.
See full profilePatents
Patent strategy should support how an invention will be developed, commercialized, and defended. We help businesses and inventors protect innovation and manage patent rights as technologies and markets evolve.
Our focus
Patent protection begins with understanding how an invention creates value. We help clients evaluate how to identify innovations worth protecting, strategize how protection can provide the greatest commercial impact, and build patent portfolios to support their business and research objectives.
Our patent practitioners are registered before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, each with a degree in engineering or applied science. The team advises clients across a broad range of technologies, including chemical, materials, metallurgical, mechanical, electrical, software, and business methods. We prepare and prosecute patent applications and provide strategic counsel on validity, infringement, and licensing associated with bringing products to market.
Patent rights can also shape commercial agreements and business transactions. We advise on licensing, ownership, and the relationship between patents, trade secrets, and confidential information. When patents are part of an acquisition or investment, we help clients assess the rights and risks associated with the portfolio.
Materials patents
Materials innovations can be difficult to protect because their value may depend on composition, processing methods, performance characteristics, or interactions among multiple technologies. We help clients identify the aspects of an invention that warrant protection and develop patent claims around its commercial and technical significance.
Our team has particular experience in advising on technologies involving metals, alloys, composites, polymers, ceramics, coatings, and other engineered materials.
We advise organizations and individuals that develop, acquire, or invest in technology, including:
- Public and private companies of all sizes
- Emerging businesses and entrepreneurs
- Manufacturers and engineering-driven businesses
- Research institutions and nonprofit organizations
- Inventors and technical teams
- Buyers, sellers, and investors evaluating patent assets
Our work includes:
- Patentability analysis
- Patent application preparation and prosecution
- S. patent portfolio development and management
- Validity and infringement analysis
- Patent licensing
- Patent ownership and assignment matters
- Patent due diligence in business transactions
- Trade secret and confidential information counseling
- Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings
- Chemical and materials technologies
- Metallurgical, mechanical, and electrical technologies
- Software and business-method technologies
- Industrial systems, food processing, specialty chemicals, and medical devices
Key Contacts
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