Intellectual Property Law
Protecting Your Innovations with Precision
Lempia Summerfield Katz is a premier Chicago intellectual property law firm delivering patent preparation and prosecution options, trademark prosecution and clearance, and litigation counseling to Fortune 500 companies, universities, and start-ups. Combining decades of big-firm expertise with a nimble, client-focused approach, we ensure cost-effective, high-quality IP protection.
Practice Areas
We're here to transform the future of your innovations, providing trusted legal expertise to protect and secure what matters most.
Patents drafted to hold up — in examination, in licensing, and in litigation. Our attorneys and agents pair advanced engineering backgrounds with decades of U.S. and international prosecution experience across electrical, mechanical, chemical, and software technologies.
Clear answers to high-stakes questions. We deliver patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity, and infringement opinions, and analyze portfolios for licensing, due diligence, and acquisitions — so you can invest, launch, and negotiate with confidence.
Protection for the brands your business is built on. From clearance and USPTO registration through international filing strategies, portfolio management, and enforcement before the TTAB and federal courts, we guide marks from first search to global brand.
Prosecution informed by the courtroom. Leveraging our extensive litigation insights, we help clients evaluate risks, prepare for potential disputes, and strategically build patent portfolios designed to withstand intense scrutiny.
Technology that keeps your IP moving. Automated docketing, deadline tracking, and portfolio monitoring deliver the precision large portfolios demand — rigorous process, paired with tools that keep you informed at every stage.
Not Seeing Your Specific Need?
Let us customize IP solutions tailored to your unique requirements. Whether you’re a startup protecting a first invention or a global company managing thousands of assets, we scale our approach to fit your technology, your business, and your goals.
FAQ
Your IP Questions Answered
Utility patents protect how an invention works and how it is used. They cover new processes, machines, articles of manufacture, or compositions of matter. If your innovation provides a functional benefit—like a new semiconductor architecture or a medical device—you need a utility patent.
Design patents, on the other hand, protect how an invention looks. They cover the unique, ornamental design of a functional item. We frequently help clients secure both types to build a multi-layered wall of protection around their commercial products.
While it sounds like a courtroom trial, patent prosecution is actually the strategic, back-and-forth negotiation process with a government patent office (like the USPTO).
Once we file your application, a patent examiner will review it and often reject initial claims based on existing "prior art." Our job during prosecution is to advocate on your behalf—amending claims and presenting legal arguments to overcome these rejections. The ultimate goal is to secure the broadest, most commercially defensible patent allowance possible.
The golden rule of intellectual property is to file before you publicly disclose, sell, or offer to sell your invention. The United States operates on a "first-to-file" system, meaning priority goes to the first inventor to file an application, regardless of who invented it first.
Yes. While there is no single "worldwide patent," we expertly manage global IP portfolios.
We utilize international frameworks like the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and direct Paris Convention filings to extend your protection overseas. By coordinating with a trusted network of foreign associate counsel, we provide a seamless, single-point-of-contact experience to protect your competitive advantage in key international markets.
We proudly represent a diverse client roster, serving innovators at every stage of growth.
Our practice scales to meet your ambitions. We provide budget-conscious, highly targeted IP counsel for agile start-ups looking to secure their foundational patents and attract venture funding. Simultaneously, we possess the infrastructure and deep technical bench required to manage expansive, high-volume global portfolios for multinational Fortune 500 companies.