Client Profiles: Business Stage
Start-up and Emerging Companies
At Altera Law Group, we know how to work with start-up and emerging companies. We know that this sector of clients has difficult legal issues to address, very often on a limited budget. We are sensitive to those needs, and have structured our team in a way that allows us to provide high value at a reasonable price.
Emerging companies often find that their very survival depends on finding a patentable or defensible niche in the marketplace. Financiers want to see patentable technology before funding a company. Yet, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that funds are often scarce at these beginning critical stages. We will work with you to ensure that you get the intellectual property protection around your company that will best further your strategic objectives.
Through our strategic alliances with corporate attorneys, we also have the ability to help you with your business plan and help connect you to funding sources. Under certain circumstances, and with agreement between us as to the terms, we may be willing to offer our services in exchange for equity in your company so that you do not have to pay legal fees up front.
We know how important IP is to your strategy. We will work with you to maximize your position within the parameters of the prior art and the law.
In addition to patent services, we also offer trademark and branding services, follow-on trademark application work, strategic licensing planning, due diligence and opinion letters, dispute resolution services, and litigation services.
In short, we do all you would expect your in-house IP counsel to do. But you don’t pay for us every day. You just pay for us when you need us.
For details on specific services we offer, see Our Services.
Mid-Market Companies
Companies that have achieved a certain level of momentum oftentimes have the biggest challenges of all. You’ve defined yourself, established yourself in the marketplace, been successful, but oftentimes have not fully planned your IP and legal strategies. Further, you frequently find yourself increasingly involved in legal disputes now that you have staked out a market position for yourself.
We can help you define, or refine, your business and intellectual property strategies in ways that guide you to an excellent future position. You may be too busy and don’t have a well-established future vision. You may have diligently created intellectual assets, but perhaps they don't fit your current or future business strategy. We can help you realign your business and intellectual asset strategies so that they mesh and complement one another.
We can also help you through the morass of IP disputes in a cost-effective way. After years and years of assisting clients in high-stakes litigation involving intellectual assets, we know firsthand the vagaries of the court system. Our goal is to guide you toward an optimal and cost-effective solution to the business problem that underlies the dispute. Our goal is not to “sell” litigation services. If you need litigation services, our attorneys are well-experienced in the courtroom and will guide you effectively. But the bottom line is your bottom line, and we will work with you to define and execute the best strategy to resolve your dispute in a way that makes economic sense.
In addition to portfolio management and dispute resolution services, we also offer our mid-market clients patent and trademark prosecution services, licensing strategy and execution services, audit services, watch services, opinion letters, due diligence, and training seminars on a wide variety of topics.
For details on specific services we offer, see Our Services.
Global Companies
Altera Law Group’s services to global companies include portfolio management, portfolio augmentation, portfolio mining, and portfolio divestiture services, along with a full array of dispute resolution services.
When we work with global IP-centric companies, we recognize that many of your IP needs are addressed by a staff of in-house attorneys. In these situations, we recognize that you likely have established your direction and focus, and are calling upon us to help you execute that strategy. We seek to coordinate with you in a way that helps you get the job done for the benefit of your ultimate client, the business unit. We partner with you in a way that follows your lead and helps you accomplish your objective at a cost-effective price.
For details on specific services we offer, see Our Services.
Manufacturing-based Companies
As the United States economy turns ever-more service based, and the overall economy is increasingly global, manufacturing concerns are faced with new challenges of how to survive these turbulent waters. Intellectual property can be a key tool for manufacturing companies. At Altera Law Group, we help you to identify key touch points in your business that you might be able to own and protect, and then work with you to exploit that proprietary position for the benefit of your company.
We capture key inventions across all technical areas, and help you branch out into the area of patents or trade secret protection. We will help establish or revamp your branding strategy and put appropriate legal protection around that strategy and assist in creating an intellectual property portfolio that works to provide you with strategic advantage. And if you have a legal dispute on a contract, a patent, trademark, software or copyright infringement issue, we can help.
For details on specific services we offer, see Our Services.
Service-based Companies
We can help you develop and exploit a branding strategy that will give you an edge. We can assist you with developing an intellectual property portfolio that will provide you with salable assets if you choose to sell your company. We can assist with legal disputes on contracts, with software developers, or patent, trademark or copyright infringement issues.
For details on specific services we offer, see Our Services.