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This service, in addition to the evaluation of the freedom to operate, provides for the preliminary assessment of whether a patent protects a technology whose use is indispensable in the creation of devices that, for reasons of interoperability, must comply with shared technical standards (standards). In this case, the patent is defined as standard-essential, and is subject to special rules on infringement and licensing.

A patent can be enforced through the customs authorities to stop infringing products. The customs surveillance service should be carefully assessed based on the circumstances and limited to patents whose infringement is easily detectable, such as standard-essential patents.

By means of due diligence, we perform analyses of patent portfolios before they are the object of commercial transactions, verifying the status of patents or patent applications from a legal point of view, and possibly the scope of protection that they guarantee to the purchaser of the rights as well as any dependencies on third parties’ patents.

Freedom to operate opinions are aimed at analyzing the possible interference of a product with third parties’ patent rights. Our activity can be extended to suggestions for mitigating interference risks, including “design around” and “patent around”, observations by third parties, oppositions, invalidity action according to the specific circumstances.

Third party observations to the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Industrial Property Organization (WIPO) are less expensive than oppositions and very useful in certain circumstances because they may reduce the risk of litigation and eliminate obstacles during the technological development.

We matured a consistent experience in the area of patent oppositions at the European Patent Office (EPO). Patent oppositions represent an essential tool for all companies that want to mitigate risks of litigation and reduce obstacles to the commercialization of their products.

Our attorneys have extensive experience as court experts and/or ex-parte experts, respectively supporting judges and lawyers in patent litigation. The court expert and the ex-parte experts are the technical experts whose work ends with a non-binding report on the infringement and/or validity of the patent. The outcome of the work of the court expert is endorsed by the judge in the vast majority of cases.

The analysis and organization of the results of an extensive research covering a specific technology sector, or "patent landscape", defines the "map" of existing patent constraints, and provides essential information on competition and the trends of development of the sector. This allows to direct research and development activities towards strategic objectives, avoiding an unnecessary duplication of research efforts, to mitigate the risks of interfering with others’ rights, to identify licensing and acquisition opportunities, and to develop a strategy for protection.

The solid experience, skills and technical knowledge of our consultants allow us to advise on the best patent application prosecution strategy to reduce the number of office actions and obtain solid patents with a broad scope of protection.

We have acquired a long experience in drafting patent applications to meet the needs of jurisdictions around the world, with attention to the continuous evolution of case law and the rules on the interpretation of patents. A team of attorneys specialized in their respective technical and scientific fields allows us to process patent applications in any sector of technology.

Before starting a new project or putting a new product/service on the market, it is essential to gain an understanding of third parties’ IP rights that could frustrate intellectual and economic efforts. Information on patent activities in the relevant technical sector is useful for identifying the space still available in terms of patenting. With our experience in prior art searches, we identify the best strategy for a patent search that can guide investments in research and development.

Supplementary protection certificates, available for all the European Union countries, extend patent protection by recovering the time necessary to obtain authorization for the marketing of a drug. We have gained consolidated experience in the procurement of certificates and related litigations.

The surveillance of competitors consists in promptly discovering third parties’ patent applications that could hinder the marketing of products and services. Periodic surveillance allows us to evaluate infringement risk mitigation measures and/or actions aimed at invalidating patents that are considered dangerous. We can identify the surveillance strategy that best suits your needs and competitive context.

The ever-growing increase of digital commerce results in an increase in online counterfeiting. Side by side with our technical partners, we work with our clients in monitoring and defending their intellectual property rights against the counterfeit products on the web.