
Hodgson Russ attorneys work with Fortune 500 companies, universities, startups, and individuals to secure protection for their ideas and inventions. We provide comprehensive advice relating to obtaining patent protection for our clients’ technologies at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and globally in collaboration with a network of patent attorneys in all major countries.
Our attorneys guide clients through the decision whether to file for a patent, including:
- Initial discussion and review of the technology
- Execution and analysis of prior art searches
- Evaluation of patentability
We prepare and prosecute patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This includes:
- Drafting utility and design patent applications with claims tailored for the client’s existing products and future commercial strategy
- Analyzing and responding to office actions
- Conducting interviews with patent examiners to accelerate prosecution
- Filing divisional and continuation applications to expand coverage
- Appealing adverse decisions to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
- Coordinating patent prosecution to maximize coverage while strengthening the client’s intellectual property strategy
We assist clients with post-issuances proceedings, license agreements, and technology transfers. Additionally, our attorneys assist clients with freedom-to-operate searches and opinions, infringement and validity opinions, and design-around strategies. We also actively advise clients on strategies related to the development and management of global intellectual property portfolios.
Our patent attorneys have degrees in engineering, chemistry, and the biological sciences, with many holding advanced degrees. Most of our attorneys have experience working in academia or industry, in fields that include software, energy, semiconductors, microelectronics, manufacturing, plastics, information technology, automotive, nanotechnology, chemicals, and life sciences.
We approach complex multi-discipline technologies as a team by bringing together attorneys with relevant technical backgrounds. Our depth and breadth of technical knowledge make Hodgson Russ an attractive firm for clients seeking protection for their technologies—whether simple or complex.
We regularly assist clients with:
- Prior art searches and reviews
- Patent mapping and identification of the applicable patent landscape
- Patentability opinions
- Identification of strategies for protecting inventions as patents or trade secrets
- Preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications
- Advice on recent case law as applied to patent strategy
- Strategies for global protection of technologies, products, and innovations
- Strategies for building strong and valuable patent portfolios
- Freedom-to-operate opinions
- Invalidity and non-infringement opinions
- Patent workshops and seminars for executive staff, researchers, and engineers
Hodgson Russ has been awarded a prestigious "Best Law Firms" Metropolitan Tier 1 ranking by Best Lawyers/U.S. News & World Report in the Patent Law category. | ![]() |
- Inter Partes Patent Reexamination Related to Business Method Patent
- Defense of Financial Institutions From Patent Infringement Allegations
- Evaluations of Relevant IP and Preparing Freedom-to-Operate Opinions for Canadian Client
- Freedom-to-Operate Patent Analysis Results in New Product Development Area for Client
- Medical Device Patent Portfolio Management
- Obtained Preliminary Injunction for Furniture Designer Client Against Infringer
- Patent Evaluations for New Food Industry Product
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Filings for German Microscope Manufacturer
In the News
- April 2023
- LXBN TV, July 23, 2014
Press Releases
- Hodgson Russ Press Release, August 19, 2022
- Hodgson Russ Press Release, November 15, 2021
- Press Release, November 18, 2015
Publications
- Intellectual Property & Technology Alert, October 17, 2016
- Buffalo Law Journal, May 31, 2007
Presentations & Events
- Hodgson Russ, 140 Pearl Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, October 12, 2023
- September 26, 2023
- New York, NY, October 24, 2012
- New York, NY, February 7, 2012
- Buffalo, NY, September 2, 2010