At every stage of the Intellectual Property (IP) management cycle, Fitch Even brings the creativity and experience necessary for chemical industry clients to maximize and protect their IP assets.
Our clients range from some of the world’s largest petrochemical producers, to smaller specialized chemical companies integral to Chicago’s industrial infrastructure, to a variety of universities and other research centers.
Our work spans a broad range of sectors, including:
- chemical and oil refining
- food chemistry
- pharmaceuticals
- industrial coatings (including conversion coatings)
- paper manufacturing
- wastewater treatment
- agricultural applications
- specialty chemicals
- polymers
- polymer films
- catalysts
Deep Technical Expertise for Tailored Advice
With educational and real-world experience, our team has in-depth technical understanding of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and material science. We know how to tailor patentability arguments to the distinguishing characteristics of the compound, composition, or formula involved in complex chemical technologies and how to use those distinctions to secure patent protection.
Equally, we appreciate the difficulty of gaining patentability for seemingly simple product applications. Often the strategy starts with asking the right questions of the inventor and bringing out the important nuances of the improvement that can be used to gain approval at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and abroad.
From Initial Prosecution to Post-Grant Proceedings and Infringement Litigation
In addition to patent drafting and prosecution, we regularly provide non-infringement and invalidity opinions, and our extensive firm-wide capabilities in post-grant proceedings are particularly important in maintaining the validity of chemical patents. Our firm has also successfully litigated patent and trade secret cases across the chemical technology spectrum for both IP owners and challengers.
Case Studies
Problem: As automotive manufacturers increasingly incorporated metallic highlights in their vehicle paints, sales brochures and other printed materials could not adequately reproduce the subtle color variations.
Solution: Fitch Even worked with our client to obtain patent protection for a process that utilized polyethylene coatings originally used in food packaging, but adapted to capture the metallic “sparkle” and gloss. By developing a patent strategy that emphasized the uniqueness of the technology for this new use, and the unique problems solved, strong protection was obtained.
Result: The validity of the client’s patent was affirmed through two reexaminations and two litigations, and this IP protection ultimately earned substantial revenue for the client.
