Structuring Agreements to Preserve Trade Secrets: Employment Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, and Licenses

Mr. Christensen’s IP practice focuses on assisting clients in protecting their inventions in both U.S. and foreign patent offices in a variety of technical fields, including optics, additive manufacturing, aerospace systems, consumer and industrial products, and renewable energy systems. He also has significant experience in assisting clients in developing cost effective strategies for managing risk in their developing of new products, and the building and managing their IP. Mr. Christensen further counsels startup to medium-sized clients in preparing their portfolios for investment financing and associated due diligence activities. He is active in thought leadership, especially related to how technology is changing both manufacturing and legal business operations and regularly presents at webinars and authors articles on a variety of law practice management and IP topics.

Mr. Toren represents clients in patent litigation involving a variety of technologies including computer software and hardware, light emitting diodes, biotechnology, semiconductor manufacturing and fabrication, optics and medical devices as well as business methods. He has successfully obtained and defended motions for preliminary injunctions and summary judgment motions involving the Patent Act, Copyright Act, Lanham Act, Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In addition to intellectual property litigation, Mr. Toren has experience in computer law, including cybersecurity. He is a former federal prosecutor with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice where he worked for over eight years and also served as Acting Deputy Chief.

John Augustyn successfully represents clients in high stakes intellectual property litigation, agreements, client counseling, and prosecution.  Leveraging his prior experience in management and as an engineer at Fortune 100 companies, John understands that IP and business issues require creative and cost effective legal solutions. He has authored several articles and chapters for books, has appeared on multiple television and radio programs, has taught law school classes, and has provided over 30 CLE programs to thousands of corporate and outside counsel.  His legal success has been recognized by selection to Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, IAM Patent 1000, Top 100 High Stakes Litigators, Fellow to Litigation Counsel of America, and other honors. Please click on his photo above for more information.

Litigation


John has been lead counsel in patent and trade secret litigations throughout the country at the trial and appellate levels. He also has been lead counsel in Post Grant proceedings at the USPTO and coordinated post grant proceedings in other countries.  In addition, he has litigated cases at the International Trade Commission. His litigation experience has involved several areas, including electronics, magnetics, sensors, control systems, medical devices, automotive, and consumer products.

Opinions


John counsels and renders opinions on patent infringement and invalidity including major product launches in competitive patent landscapes. These opinions often involve large patent families with multiple US patents and with existing litigations and patent office proceedings throughout the world.

Patent Prosecution


He has extensive experience in formulating patent strategies and managing patent portfolios. John manages the US and non-US patent prosecution for several international corporations. He has prepared or supervised the preparation of over 1000 US original patent applications and oversaw the prosecution of over 3000 non-US patent applications.

Due Diligence


John performs due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. The due diligence involves an analysis of the patents, trademarks, trade secrets, licenses, agreements, products, services, manufacturing processes, software, marketing, and standards by standard setting organizations.

IP Agreements


He successfully negotiates and prepares agreements relating to well-known products and brands for both the seller/ licensor and the buyer/ licensee, including patent licenses, technology licenses, trade secret agreements, joint venture agreements, trademark agreements, and research and development agreements.

Trade Secrets


John advises clients on trade secret matters including: litigating trade secret cases, negotiating trade secret agreements, advising clients on the best techniques for protecting their trade secrets, and helping clients decide whether to use trade secret versus patent protection.