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Should I File a Provisional Patent Application?

by Devin S. Morgan
© The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You have a prototype of your invention that works. You want patent protection, but you don’t have enough money to file for a full utility patent yet. Your next step is to start talking to potential customers, suppliers, and investors to sound out the market, develop your business plan, and hopefully get some money in the door. Is it worth filing a provisional patent application?

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How to Get a U.S. Patent

by By Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You have a new product in the works. You have analyzed the market and are confident that your product addresses a real need and there is a business model for making and selling it. You may have even filed a provisional patent application while you worked on your proof of concept. You have a budget for investing in patent protection. Now how do you actually go about getting a U.S. patent?

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How to Select and Work with an Attorney

by by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You are starting or operating your business and someone important: Tells you “every business should have a good lawyer” Tells you to have your attorney look at or do X Has their attorney send you a nasty letter, denies your application for Y, or makes you angry enough to consider suing them You think you need a lawyer, but now what?

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How to Patent and Sell Your Invention

by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You have a new idea for a product. You are pretty sure that it is new and the prototype you built works like a charm. You have even shown it to a few close friends and family and they think its great. Where do you go from here?

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How to Setup Your Business for Maximum Credibility

by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You and your co-founders are ready to start making things happen for your new business. You have a concept and a pretty good idea of who is going to do what on the founding team. Customers, investors, and suppliers have expressed interest, but are waiting for your official launch. How do you setup a new business that demonstrates commitment and establishes credibility with others as quickly as possible?

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Do I Need an IP Strategy for My Startup?

by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You have a team, an initial product, and either early revenue or some seed funding. Your advisors and potential investors keep asking about patents or an IP strategy. Other early stage companies you talk to are all over the map—from saying that IP is useless for small companies, to writing patent applications themselves, to spending half of their seed funding on their patent attorney. What should you be doing?

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How Do I Use My Trademark?

by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: You brainstormed. You searched. You pitched ideas to friends and family. You searched trademark registries, checked the availability of domains, and used multiple search engines to see if others might be using similar names. Now, you finally have the perfect company name, logo, product name, or slogan. Now what?

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Does Your Business Need Virtual In-House Counsel?

by Devin S. Morgan
© © The Law Office of Devin S. Morgan
The Situation: Your business is growing. You and your executive team are increasingly distracted by legal issues, like NDAs, employment concerns, sales contracts, IP development, and a growing list of “things to look into” that may or may not be problems. You now have several outside attorneys that seem to do good work, but the bills are growing faster than your budget. How do you get your legal work under control?

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Author Bio

I have an engineering degree from Dartmouth College and JD and Master of Intellectual Property degrees from Franklin Pierce Law Center. I practiced in large law firms in Washington, DC, where I focused on patent prosecution, IP analysis, and litigation for both technology startups and Fortune 500 companies. I later formed my own consulting business to help companies with IP analysis, strategy, and process. I left consulting to be in-house counsel for Maxtor Corporation and Seagate Technology. In 2008, I started my own firm to provide intellectual property, contract, and business legal services to startup and growth companies.
 

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Why Listen To an Attorney?

...about working with attorneys.
As an in-house attorney, hiring and managing outside attorneys was one of my primary responsibilities. In fact, most corporate legal departments are responsible for:

  1. Finding the right specialist attorneys
  2. Defining the objectives, scope, and timeline for legal services
  3. Aggressively controlling costs, including deciding what can be handled in-house or by non-lawyers

These management responsibilities are often far more valuable to the company than the actual legal services the in-house attorney provides. In-house attorneys understand the risk and expense of hiring the wrong attorney or not managing them for business results.

About the Firm & Services

I provide legal services to help innovative companies start and grow. I help them protect their technology with patents and trade secrets. I help them protect their brand with trademarks. I help them navigate the challenges of business formation, core agreements (with employees, customers, and suppliers), and complex licensing, investment, joint venture, and other commercial transactions. I am their business counsel and advisor for identifying legal issues, matching their legal strategy to their business strategy, and managing legal and administrative projects to control costs, reduce distraction, and meet business objectives. I am their virtual in-house attorney.

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Contact Devin

Contact Me

 

Please contact me to:

 

  • Schedule a Patent Strategy Session
  • Schedule a Portfolio Management kick-off meeting
  • Schedule a General Counsel interview day
  • Be added to my Mailing List
  • Suggest topics for future Publications

 

Send us an e-mail!

About
Devin S. Morgan

I am an attorney who manages attorneys. More importantly, I understand how to leverage lawyers through process, support staff, and tools that are integrated into your business and you ultimately control. I know thesecret of great corporate legal departments and the sooner you implement those ...

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