Innovation drives business, and the Hunton intellectual property practice group works with innovators to protect, defend, obtain, monetize and avoid infringing patent, trade secret, trademark, trade dress, trade name and copyright rights. Our team provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary services designed to handle the most pressing IP issues facing our clients, including prosecution, portfolio management, licensing, litigation and postgrant proceedings, UDRP proceedings, advertising compliance, unfair competition, rights of publicity or privacy, trade secret protection and due diligence. We manage the full life cycle of client intellectual property assets, and develop strong, defensible portfolios that align with each client’s specific goals.

We serve clients ranging from small startups to Fortune^® 100 corporations, which are involved in diverse industries including retail, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer products, life sciences, financial services and real estate development. Our lawyers have a comprehensive understanding of the business goals and legal challenges facing numerous industries and develop strategies that are tailored to each client’s needs. Informed by decades of practice and real-world technical experience, we approach each client’s intellectual property portfolio as part of an overall business plan.

As part of one of the nation’s largest law firms, the IP group has the resources to respond quickly and forcefully to our clients’ needs, regardless of area of practice, venue or technology. Should litigation become necessary, the team is experienced in the use of litigation as a tool to force a favorable settlement. Hunton has successfully obtained (and defeated) preliminary injunction and summary judgment motions, obtained contempt sanctions for infringers and prevailed in both bench and jury trials. Moreover, the IP group has prosecuted and defended opposition and cancellation proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and has successfully handled numerous postgrant proceedings such as inter partes review and covered business method patents. In addition to our record of litigation success in key U.S. district courts, we have also succeeded in taking and defending appeals to the courts of appeals for the federal and other circuits.

Our intellectual property lawyers are resident in many of the firm’s domestic and international offices, and collaborate with colleagues throughout the firm’s many locations and practices to address ancillary issues related to mergers and acquisitions, competition and antitrust, life sciences, bankruptcy and privacy, among others. The group’s lawyers are active in the American Bar Association; the American Intellectual Property Law Association; the Intellectual Property Owners Association; the Licensing Executives Society; the International Trademark Association; the International Franchise Association; the ABA Sections of Intellectual Property Law and Science and Technology; international, state and local bar associations; and various professional groups and committees dealing with intellectual property issues. We remain active in advocacy, government and industry groups, and stay abreast of developments that affect our clients.

Our successful approach to serving client needs has been noticed by numerous publications. Our team and our lawyers have been recognized as a leading intellectual property practice by The Legal 500, The Benchmark Guide to America’s Leading Litigators, Managing Intellectual Property, Corporate Counsel magazine and the Chambers USA guide. While we appreciate the rankings and honors bestowed upon us by outside sources, we are most proud of our consistent record of success on behalf of our clients.