Clifford A. Rieders
Partner, since 1975
Areas: Litigation; Medical Malpractice; Personal Injury; Products Liability; Professional Liability; Torts; Aviation & Aerospace; Civil Practice; Federal Practice and Appeals; Constitutional and Civil Rights; Class Actions; Dram Shop Liability; Railroad Law
Patent law is a difficult and intriguing mainly statutory area of the law. Generally within patent law there are issues of intellectual property such as copyright, trademark, patent law, and sometimes even antitrust. We have served as both lead and local counsel in such matters. Generally speaking, they arise in federal court, although not always. Sometimes intellectual property issues come up in the context of commercial claims, covenants not to compete and other situations where confidential trade information is involved. We generally refer requests for patents to patent law practitioners, although we may work with them closely. Litigation of these matters may involve entirely local counsel or we may choose to associate with other attorneys, depending upon the nature of the claims. Copyrights and other statutory or common law protection are intended to give entrepreneurs, businesses and individuals an opportunity to develop ideas without direct competition. New, novel developments and inventions are protected by patents. As indicated, the law in this area is mainly statutory, but there is much common law development as well.
