The Services We Offer
HARRINGTON is a law firm that is focused on intellectual property—patents, trademarks, copyrights, and related species of IP.
We represent and counsel clients regarding the acquisition of intellectual property rights, strategies for defending those rights against infringement, litigation about intellectual property matters (both for plaintiffs and defendants), licensing, and the business and trade-related aspects of intellctual property.
We also provide business consulting and counseling for both emerging and existing businesses, especially those businesses for whom intellectual property is a significant asset.
Please click on a service type from the menu on the left to view more information about the services we offer.
HARRINGTON is a law firm that is focused on intellectual property—patents, trademarks, copyrights, and related species of IP.
We represent and counsel clients regarding the acquisition of intellectual property rights, strategies for defending those rights against infringement, litigation about intellectual property matters (both for plaintiffs and defendants), licensing, and the business and trade-related aspects of intellctual property.
We also provide business consulting and counseling for both emerging and existing businesses, especially those businesses for whom intellectual property is a significant asset.
Please click on a service type from the menu on the left to view more information about the services we offer.
Patents
A major portion of our practice centers upon patent law, in all three phases of the life cycle of a patentable idea.
A patent begins with an idea—specifically, an idea for a new or improved device, process, or composition of matter. Provided that the idea is novel (has never been done before), useful (accomplishes a particular desirable result), and nonobvious (represents a significant advance over what is already known), a patent can be obtained for the idea. In the United States, the issuance of a patent carries with it the right to prevent others from practicing the invention for a period of time. The other two phases of the life cycle of a patentable idea are based upon this "right to exclude." In one phase, the right to exclude others from practicing the invention is enforceable through the federal courts, through patent infringement litigation. In the other, the right to exclude others creates the possibility of licensing others to practice the invention, in exchange for a royalty.
Patent law is a highly specialized area of the law. In order to represent patent applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it is necessary to obtain a science or engineering degree (or its equivalent) and to pass a special registration examination, which tests the patent attorney's knowledge of patent law and patent office procedures. Patent litigation is likewise a complex process, involving in many cases certain specialized procedures in the courts as well as technical as well as legal analysis. Patent licensing can also be complicated, requiring both a good knowledge of the patenting process and patent litigation as well as an understanding of business and marketing.
At HARRINGTON, we have extensive experience in all three of these areas, and we are ready to help you with all phases of the life cycle of your patentable idea.
A major portion of our practice centers upon patent law, in all three phases of the life cycle of a patentable idea.
A patent begins with an idea—specifically, an idea for a new or improved device, process, or composition of matter. Provided that the idea is novel (has never been done before), useful (accomplishes a particular desirable result), and nonobvious (represents a significant advance over what is already known), a patent can be obtained for the idea. In the United States, the issuance of a patent carries with it the right to prevent others from practicing the invention for a period of time. The other two phases of the life cycle of a patentable idea are based upon this "right to exclude." In one phase, the right to exclude others from practicing the invention is enforceable through the federal courts, through patent infringement litigation. In the other, the right to exclude others creates the possibility of licensing others to practice the invention, in exchange for a royalty.
Patent law is a highly specialized area of the law. In order to represent patent applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it is necessary to obtain a science or engineering degree (or its equivalent) and to pass a special registration examination, which tests the patent attorney's knowledge of patent law and patent office procedures. Patent litigation is likewise a complex process, involving in many cases certain specialized procedures in the courts as well as technical as well as legal analysis. Patent licensing can also be complicated, requiring both a good knowledge of the patenting process and patent litigation as well as an understanding of business and marketing.
At HARRINGTON, we have extensive experience in all three of these areas, and we are ready to help you with all phases of the life cycle of your patentable idea.
Trademarks
Trademarks serve as an indication of the source of goods or services. The value of a trademark is tied up in the business goodwill associated with it. Valuable trademarks are all around you, to the extent that you probably don't notice them most of the time.
The process of selecting and protecting a trademark can make or break the business associated with that mark. Just as with patents, the goal is to set up a degree of exclusivity for your business, through your consistent use of a mark that will make an impression in the minds of your customers. Getting our firm involved in the process early can help focus those efforts, keep you from spending money on marks that cannot be protected (or, in some cases, even used), and establish a firm foundation for your marketing efforts for the products you are offering. We have extensive experience in conducting trademark availability and registrability searches, in preparing and prosecuting trademark registration applications on the federal level, and in counseling clients regarding the best practices for the use of marks.
When a competitor is encroaching on trademark rights you have established, it's time to consider litigation. Very few firms our size have as much trademark litigation experience as we do—so when the time comes, and litigation is inevitable, we're ready to go to the mat for you. But we can also leverage our experience to help you find ways to avoid litigation over trademarks. Sometimes the best lawsuit is the one you don't have to file.
We are also experts at using your trademark rights creatively to accomplish goals you might be unable to accomplish using other forms of intellectual property. Depending on your...
[+] Read More situation, trademark rights can be as valuable an asset as a patent or a copyright, but without the baggage that patents and copyrights can sometimes carry in litigation.
We usually represent rights holders—usually plaintiffs in trademark litigation—but we know how to play defense, too. In fact, through the years we've seen pretty much every litigation defense tactic. We know what works and what doesn't, and we know how plaintiffs' attorneys work. If you should find yourself sued, we can help.
Finally, if you are considering licensing your trademarks for others to use, be forewarned: trademark licenses can trigger unforeseen liabilities, because a trademark license can be construed as the creation of a franchise. Consulting with a HARRINGTON attorney at the beginning can save you time, effort, and money in the end. Of course, that's true in every situation.
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Trademarks serve as an indication of the source of goods or services. The value of a trademark is tied up in the business goodwill associated with it. Valuable trademarks are all around you, to the extent that you probably don't notice them most of the time.
The process of selecting and protecting a trademark can make or break the business associated with that mark. Just as with patents, the goal is to set up a degree of exclusivity for your business, through your consistent use of a mark that will make an impression in the minds of your customers. Getting our firm involved in the process early can help focus those efforts, keep you from spending money on marks that cannot be protected (or, in some cases, even used), and establish a firm foundation for your marketing efforts for the products you are offering. We have extensive experience in conducting trademark availability and registrability searches, in preparing and prosecuting trademark registration applications on the federal level, and in counseling clients regarding the best practices for the use of marks.
When a competitor is encroaching on trademark rights you have established, it's time to consider litigation. Very few firms our size have as much trademark litigation experience as we do—so when the time comes, and litigation is inevitable, we're ready to go to the mat for you. But we can also leverage our experience to help you find ways to avoid litigation over trademarks. Sometimes the best lawsuit is the one you don't have to file.
We are also experts at using your trademark rights creatively to accomplish goals you might be unable to accomplish using other forms of intellectual property. Depending on your...
[+] Read More situation, trademark rights can be as valuable an asset as a patent or a copyright, but without the baggage that patents and copyrights can sometimes carry in litigation.
We usually represent rights holders—usually plaintiffs in trademark litigation—but we know how to play defense, too. In fact, through the years we've seen pretty much every litigation defense tactic. We know what works and what doesn't, and we know how plaintiffs' attorneys work. If you should find yourself sued, we can help.
Finally, if you are considering licensing your trademarks for others to use, be forewarned: trademark licenses can trigger unforeseen liabilities, because a trademark license can be construed as the creation of a franchise. Consulting with a HARRINGTON attorney at the beginning can save you time, effort, and money in the end. Of course, that's true in every situation.
[-] Hide Extra
Copyright
Copyright Law does not protect ideas, but rather the way those ideas are expressed. Copyrightable ideas take many forms: a book or magazine article, a musical work, an audiovisual work like a film or television program, a sculpture, an architectural work. In fact, copyright is by far the most numerous form of intellectual property—and if you have ever taken a photograph, drawn a picture, or written a computer program, you own a copyright. Copyright protection is automatic at the moment when your original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
Of course, useful copyright protection begins with registration. While registration is technically optional, registration brings the copyright laws to life in favor of the copyright owner. HARRINGTON attorneys can help you develop a strategy for managing your copyrighted works, determining when and whether to register them, and how best to enforce them.
Did you know that when the Copyright Act of 1909 was passed, it could be written on two pieces of paper? In 1976, a new Copyright Act was passed, and it would have taken about 30 pages. Since then, numerous revisions, each more complicated than the last, coupled with at least two generations of new technology, have made the Copyright Act into a complex nest of interlocking, often confusing rules. If you are operating in this space, you need smart, experienced attorneys to help you understand and follow the law and to use the law to your advantage.
We've handled numerous lawsuits where copyright was an issue or the major issue, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. We're well acquainted with the registration procedures, too.
Copyright Law does not protect ideas, but rather the way those ideas are expressed. Copyrightable ideas take many forms: a book or magazine article, a musical work, an audiovisual work like a film or television program, a sculpture, an architectural work. In fact, copyright is by far the most numerous form of intellectual property—and if you have ever taken a photograph, drawn a picture, or written a computer program, you own a copyright. Copyright protection is automatic at the moment when your original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
Of course, useful copyright protection begins with registration. While registration is technically optional, registration brings the copyright laws to life in favor of the copyright owner. HARRINGTON attorneys can help you develop a strategy for managing your copyrighted works, determining when and whether to register them, and how best to enforce them.
Did you know that when the Copyright Act of 1909 was passed, it could be written on two pieces of paper? In 1976, a new Copyright Act was passed, and it would have taken about 30 pages. Since then, numerous revisions, each more complicated than the last, coupled with at least two generations of new technology, have made the Copyright Act into a complex nest of interlocking, often confusing rules. If you are operating in this space, you need smart, experienced attorneys to help you understand and follow the law and to use the law to your advantage.
We've handled numerous lawsuits where copyright was an issue or the major issue, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. We're well acquainted with the registration procedures, too.
Business Law
A significant portion of our client base includes small businesses that center upon a particular piece of intellectual property. To be exploited, intellectual property must generally be an asset of a business of some type. Many of our clients start as individual inventors—smart people with an idea and thoughts about how to implement it. For individual inventors, some of the most important decisions they can make about how to protect their IP involve business questions: Should I incorporate? How do I market my invention? How do I leverage my ideas to attract investors?
At HARRINGTON, we live these questions every day...not just for our clients, but also for ourselves. We're an entrepreneurial-minded law firm—being small, we have to be—so we can help you answer those questions.
Even many of our more seasoned business clients find that we aren't just focused on IP, and they recognize that a whole-enterprise approach to legal matters is beneficial. Put into plain English, that means that they come for the expertise in IP—but they stay for our insight into other areas of business and management.
So whether you're just starting out and needing help deciding on a business structure, or you're looking to maintain or grow your existing business, we can help.
A significant portion of our client base includes small businesses that center upon a particular piece of intellectual property. To be exploited, intellectual property must generally be an asset of a business of some type. Many of our clients start as individual inventors—smart people with an idea and thoughts about how to implement it. For individual inventors, some of the most important decisions they can make about how to protect their IP involve business questions: Should I incorporate? How do I market my invention? How do I leverage my ideas to attract investors?
At HARRINGTON, we live these questions every day...not just for our clients, but also for ourselves. We're an entrepreneurial-minded law firm—being small, we have to be—so we can help you answer those questions.
Even many of our more seasoned business clients find that we aren't just focused on IP, and they recognize that a whole-enterprise approach to legal matters is beneficial. Put into plain English, that means that they come for the expertise in IP—but they stay for our insight into other areas of business and management.
So whether you're just starting out and needing help deciding on a business structure, or you're looking to maintain or grow your existing business, we can help.
Litigation
Nobody likes going to court. In fact, it's an open secret that when parties escalate a dispute to the court system, both parties lose. Of course, one party or the other will win the suit, or the parties will decide to settle, but, generally speaking, both parties are out a significant amount of money in legal fees, lost productivity, and emotional turmoil.
That state of affairs makes two things especially clear: First, you need lawyers who aren't so focused on litigation that they fail to try to resolve disputes short of court. Second, when court becomes inevitable, you need lawyers who will go to the mat for you, with both experience and creativity as guides for smart litigation.
Our approach to litigation is integrated with the rest of our practice and with your needs. We focus on intellectual property litigation, but we have a wide range of litigation experience in other areas, both on the state and federal level. Our attorneys have handled matters in North Carolina courts in 12 different counties; federal matters in all three North Carolina districts; and federal matters in more than a dozen district courts around the United States. We've represented clients before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the federal Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Federal Circuits. And we've litigated against some of the biggest companies in the world, demonstrating that the quality of our advocacy is second to none.
Nobody likes going to court. In fact, it's an open secret that when parties escalate a dispute to the court system, both parties lose. Of course, one party or the other will win the suit, or the parties will decide to settle, but, generally speaking, both parties are out a significant amount of money in legal fees, lost productivity, and emotional turmoil.
That state of affairs makes two things especially clear: First, you need lawyers who aren't so focused on litigation that they fail to try to resolve disputes short of court. Second, when court becomes inevitable, you need lawyers who will go to the mat for you, with both experience and creativity as guides for smart litigation.
Our approach to litigation is integrated with the rest of our practice and with your needs. We focus on intellectual property litigation, but we have a wide range of litigation experience in other areas, both on the state and federal level. Our attorneys have handled matters in North Carolina courts in 12 different counties; federal matters in all three North Carolina districts; and federal matters in more than a dozen district courts around the United States. We've represented clients before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the federal Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Federal Circuits. And we've litigated against some of the biggest companies in the world, demonstrating that the quality of our advocacy is second to none.
