Structuring Freedom to Operate Opinions: Reducing Risk of Patent Infringement

Mr. Hamp assists clients in all aspects of intellectual property law, with a particular focus on the litigation and enforcement of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret rights. He represents clients from a variety of industries in the preparation and prosecution of utility and design patent applications before the USPTO, including applications related to the chemical, healthcare, mechanical, computer software, sporting goods, and household products fields. Mr. Hamp has successfully prepared and/or prosecuted applications in many technology areas, including for pharmaceuticals, food and beverage compositions, chemical catalysts, malware detection methods, and semiconductor devices. He also provides counseling and opinion work for utility patent, design patent, trademark and copyright matters, including freedom to practice and validity assessments, domestic and foreign infringement investigations, drafting of license and transfer agreements, and other strategy counseling.

Mr. Balich is a trial and appellate lawyer who protects clients’ technology and defends their freedom to use it. His experience includes successfully defending multiple patent owners—from manufacturers to public universities—facing inter partes review challenges at the PTAB where the PTAB denied institution. Mr. Balich also focuses his practice on trade secrets. In addition, he regularly represents defendants in patent and commercial litigation, including Hatch-Waxman ANDA litigation, before district courts and at the ITC. Mr. Balich’s counseling and litigation experience spans a diverse set of industries including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, data storage media, electro-hydraulic devices, military equipment, and consumer electronics.

Mr. Fasse’s practice emphasizes client counseling and patent prosecution in a wide variety of technologies, with an emphasis on healthcare, medical devices, and other biological and medical fields as well as various green technologies. He helps clients from startups to multinationals to develop competitive worldwide patent strategies and to establish solid and defensible patent portfolios. Mr. Fasse performs competitive patent analyses, identifies third-party patent risks, and provides patentability and freedom to operate opinions. He also has experience in opposing and defending patents before the European Patent Office and in U.S. litigation and post-grant proceedings.