Expertise & Experience:

• Establishing Patent Rights
  
• Patent Prosecution
  
• Licensing
  
• Infringement Analysis
  
• Design Around Analysis
  
• Validity Studies
  
• Litigation - Patent Enforcement and Defense
  

The firm engages in all phases of patent procurement, including application preparation, prosecution, and appellate proceedings in the U.S. and abroad, through filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in the European Patent Office (EPO) and nationally.

Sheldon & Mak provides patent related services in all technologies, including for example: biotechnology, chemistry, chemical engineering, computer software, electronics, optics, mechanical engineering, and materials sciences. Patents that Sheldon & Mak has obtained for their clients have successfully protected hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

Sheldon & Mak also assists clients in the licensing of their patent rights, and securing rights in the patents of others to realize profit. Sheldon & Mak clients work with the firm's lawyers to understand the economic value of the patents and to negotiate for the most favorable result whether licensing in or out.

Among clients who have put Sheldon & Mak's expertise in patents to their uses are such well-known companies as Jet Propulsion Laboratories, TRW, Beckman Instruments, Raychem, Cal Spas, Corbett Lighting and Southern California Edison.

Sheldon & Mak also provides its extensive experience in patent law to clients in an effort to avoid infringement liability. Sheldon & Mak can and has aggressively challenged invalid patent claims. The firm is proud to say that no Sheldon & Mak client that has followed its advice has ever been sued successfully for patent infringement.

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Searching, Prosecution and Maintenance: Attorneys at Sheldon & Mak have expertise in national and international trademark searching and selection, and routinely handle all trademark proceedings before state, federal trademark offices, and with the assistance of its vast network of carefully selected overseas associates, in all international trademark offices.

Enforcement and Litigation: Sheldon & Mak also assists its clients in policing their valuable trademark rights. Their efforts with the United States Customs Service have prevented the importation of articles which infringe their clients' trademark rights. Where pre-litigation infringement disputes are not immediately resolved, Sheldon & Mak's skilled trademark litigators have a solid history of obtaining seizure orders, temporary restraining orders, injunctions and favorable judgments. Knowing when to fight and when to settle is an art practiced well by the firm's litigators. When a decision is made that the right is too important or the offense too serious, Sheldon & Mak attorneys are trained to aggressively and quickly achieve the desired results.

Trademark Portfolio Management: Sheldon & Mak excels in providing trademark portfolio management for clients of all types including, large corporations who recognize the firms expertise in this area.

Among clients who have recognized Sheldon & Mak's trademark expertise are industry leaders such as: Apple Computer, Brothers Trading Company, Cal Spas Inc., Landec Corporation, Learning Tree International, Inc., McGuire-Nicholas Company, Inc., Morco Foods, Inc., Public Storage Management, Inc., Ralph M. Parsons Company, Sierracin, Southern California Edison, Speakercraft Products, Inc., Sunburst Products, Inc., Quantum Corporation, Ultravit Enterprises, Inc.

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Winning at trial does not depend solely on the merits of the case. Technique matters. Sheldon & Mak's successes are a function of the firm's excellent communication skills and clear understanding of the factors that influence the trier of fact, be it judge or jury. The proof of the effectiveness of the firm's trial teams is in their successes.

Sheldon & Mak is highly experienced in all aspects of intellectual property litigation. The firm's lawyers are skilled in both the prosecution and defense of complex litigation procedures such as temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, product seizures, protective orders, expert witness testimony, product surveys and economic analyses.

The firm's structure lends itself to being able to devote substantial professional and support resources to a case when they are needed. Lawyers and support staff who are knowledgeable of the subject matter of the litigation can gear up for trial quickly, effectively and efficiently.

At every stage of a lawsuit Sheldon & Mak's litigation teams are consistently industrious, creative and thoroughly prepared. Its attorneys endeavor to seize the initiative in each new litigation matter and work to retain the initiative throughout pretrial proceedings, settlement negotiations and trial. This policy effectively controls the course of the litigation and can procure meaningful settlement negotiations at an early stage.

The firm regularly uses outside experts in economics, market studies, consumer perception and communications to tell the client's story. Sheldon & Mak also maintains a strongworking relationship with intellectual property litigation firms throughout the country and can quickly muster a battle-ready team of expert litigators wherever their clients' interests are a stake.

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Understanding copyrights can be the difference between profiting from your work or watching while someone else does.

Sheldon & Mak assists its clients in understanding copyrights and obtaining, licensing and protecting copyrights. Sheldon & Mak clients have obtained valuable copyrights in all varieties of works, including:

• Literary works
  
• Musical works, including any accompanying words
  
• Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
  
• Pantomimes and Choreographic works
  
• Pictorial, Graphic and Sculptural works (including product configurations)
  
• Motion pictures and other audio-visual works
  
• Sound recordings
  
• Computer programs
  
• Architectural works
  

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Unlike patented inventions, confidential business information and know-how can be owned perpetually if kept secret. Sheldon & Mak assists its clients in identifying their important trade secrets and in establishing a comprehensive trade secret protection program which meets the requirements of trade secret law. Such a protection program usually includes the establishment of in-house procedures. Sheldon & Mak assists clients in 1) Identifying Trade Secrets; 2) Establishing Trade Secret Protection Programs; 3) Establishing Employment Policies and Agreements; 4) Preparing Confidentiality Agreements; 5) Licensing Trade Secrets; 6) Conducting Misappropriation Analyses; 7) Establishing "Clean Room" Operation.

Sheldon & Mak also assists its clients in negotiating their sale of commercially marketable trade secrets under favorable terms.

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