For nearly six decades, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP has assisted entrepreneurs, inventors, and emerging companies in protecting their valuable intellectual property (IP) rights. We are particularly adept in this area, and young companies need every ounce of our skills to help protect nascent inventions and technologies from competitors and knock-offs, which can destroy a market almost as quickly as it is created.
IP formation and growth strategies
Marshall Gerstein attorneys, patent agents, and technical specialists have supported entrepreneurs, startups, and inventors providing business solutions in the following IP areas:
- Patent portfolio strategies
- US and foreign patent protection and life cycle maintenance
- Worldwide trademark portfolio management
- Broad legal and competitive patent landscapes and freedom to operate opinions
- Licensing and other IP transactions like collaborations and supply agreements
- IP policies and employee IP training
- Trade secret protection and portfolio maintenance, including secrecy agreements
- Brand protection and enforcement of rights against knock-offs (particularly post crowdfunding)
- IP litigation matters and alternative dispute resolution
Marshall Gerstein has guided emerging companies and entrepreneurs from concept, through funding rounds, initial public offerings, and beyond. We have worked with many well-known, “household brands” since the days when the founders were making the product just behind their storefront office and delivering it themselves to customers. We know the challenges of emerging companies and truly love the work that we do in this space.
Marshall Gerstein is regionally positioned in Chicago, IL and Raleigh, NC – two particularly fertile startup, incubator, and accelerator hubs. Although we work with many technology, life sciences, Fintech, AI, and other companies that are born in these regions, we of course counsel startups and entrepreneurs worldwide. We are a Premium Partner of The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) dedicated to connecting regional entrepreneurs with the resources they need to build and launch a successful business. We are also active members of Keiretsu Forum Midwest that connects early stage investors, emerging companies, and regional economic development engines to become an epicenter in the Midwest for innovation and investment.
Through Marshall Gerstein’s counsel, startups and newly formed entities have prospered in the marketplace:
- Amgen Inc.
- Evozyne
- Final Co.
- Luminar Technologies
- Paragon Biosciences
- PopSockets
- Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation