IP & Technology

For technology and healthcare/medtech companies, intellectual property is often the most valuable asset class on the balance sheet — yet it is also one of the most frequently under-managed from a legal standpoint. IP practice in this context requires strategic thinking about prosecution, licensing, enforcement, and M&A valuation across patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights. Whether you are dedicated IP counsel or a generalist advising on IP dimensions of transactions, understanding portfolio strategy and risk is essential.

AI governance has become a mandatory new legal domain. Questions that must be answered for any client deploying AI tools: What AI products are being used? Who owns the output? What happens to company data uploaded to third-party AI platforms? How do vendor AI provisions in SaaS contracts affect IP rights? What is the company's AI risk policy? Legal counsel is increasingly co-leading AI governance working groups alongside CISO and CTO counterparts.

Trade secret protection is often more practically important than patent protection for fast-moving tech companies. The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) created a federal cause of action, but state law (typically UTSA) still governs most disputes. Protection requires "reasonable measures" to maintain secrecy — which means documented access controls, NDA programs, and disciplined employee onboarding and offboarding protocols.

Open source compliance is frequently overlooked but carries real risk. Copyleft licenses (GPL, AGPL) can trigger obligations to release proprietary source code if open source components are incorporated into commercial products. Every technology company needs an open source policy and an accurate inventory of what components are in use.