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 profileIntellectual property can shape how a business competes and grows. We help clients protect and put to work the innovations, brands, and creative assets that create value.
Intellectual property strategy should begin with how an asset supports the business. We help clients determine where protection matters most and build a strategy around how those rights will be used.
We advise businesses and institutions on patent, trademark, and copyright matters. We also work directly with creators and inventors. Our patent practitioners are registered before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and have backgrounds in engineering or applied science, with particular strength in chemical and materials technologies.
Protection is only part of the value. We help clients license and commercialize their intellectual property while helping them evaluate risks posed by intellectual property held by others. When IP assets are part of a merger, acquisition, or investment, we assess ownership and risk so the transaction reflects their value.
When rights are challenged, we represent clients in federal court and in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
For international portfolios, we help clients coordinate protection and enforcement across markets.
We help inventors and businesses assess patentability, prepare and prosecute applications, and manage patent portfolios. Our attorneys also advise on licensing, validity, infringement and noninfringement, and enforcement across a range of technical fields.
We help businesses select, clear, register, manage, and enforce trademarks in the United States and internationally. Our work supports brand growth while reducing the risk of conflicts, unauthorized use, and registration challenges.
We help businesses, institutions, and creators establish and protect ownership rights in original content. Our work includes registration, licensing, fair-use questions, online use, and infringement disputes.
Through Brandcircle, our intellectual property attorneys work alongside the brand strategists and creative professionals at Apollo Communications. This collaborative approach reduces the time required for brand development because the creative and legal vetting processes are conducted simultaneously, allowing us to deliver creative content that has already been vetted by experienced trademark counsel. Whether it is developing a single logo or an entire campaign, the Brandcircle approach of considering legal and creative decisions together provides a faster, more reliable path to launching creative content.
Helps businesses protect and leverage innovation. Guides IP protection and portfolio strategy. Advises on patent risk avoidance, enforcement, and transactions.
See full profile
Represents businesses on IP protection and licensing. Advises on trademark, copyright, franchising, technology, and artificial intelligence matters.
See full profileWhen a small business faced an aggressive copyright infringement demand, we developed a strategy to limit the client’s financial exposure and achieve an efficient resolution. Challenge A small business operating as a single-member LLC received an aggressive demand from a copyright enforcement entity after a single unauthorized image appeared on the company’s blog. The rights […]
McNees Wallace & Nurick today announced the launch of Ryepeck Ventures, LLC, a management and commercialization consultancy firm that helps businesses turn innovative ideas into commercially successful ventures. Ryepeck Ventures is a subsidiary of McNees and will be led by Geoffrey White, who will serve as president. White is an attorney in the firm’s Intellectual […]
Patents are often perceived as an expense reserved for large technology companies or pharmaceutical giants. In reality, businesses of all sizes and across all industries use patents as strategic assets to generate measurable financial returns, deter competitors, and position companies for long-term growth. Understanding why others invest in patents is the first step toward evaluating […]
McNees welcomes seven law students joining the firm as clerks for the 2026 summer session. The clerks will work alongside attorneys in offices throughout Pennsylvania, offering valuable support on active matters. This year’s clerks will gain hands-on experience in legal practices, including corporate and tax, estate planning, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, and real […]