Practice Areas

Strategic Counseling for Startups and Established Businesses

We understand that businesses face a variety of complex legal issues that require sound advice from a trusted advisor that is invested in their success. As such, we provide strategic legal advice to enable our clients to make the best possible decisions for their businesses. We provide a number of professional services that support executive decision making including opinions of counsel (validity/invalidity opinions, infringement/non-infringement opinions, freedom-to-operate opinions, and pre-filing clearance opinions), due diligence for sales or acquisitions of intellectual property, and strategic counseling on transactions, enforcement actions, and litigation. In addition, we zealously represent our clients in negotiating and drafting intellectual property license agreements and other complex business contracts. We recognize the trust that our clients place in us when they seek our advice on mission-critical decisions for their businesses and view our role as advisor as the most important aspect of our representation. Unlike big law firms, we endeavor to form close working relationships with our clients allowing us to provide a higher level of service that typically results in better outcomes. We are gratified that our clients often come to view us a member of their team and include us in all aspects of the intellectual property process.

Licensing, Contracts, Due Diligence, & Transactions

The business of intellectual property is largely based on contractual agreements that are critical to the success of a transaction. Unfortunately, these agreements are often overlooked until a dispute arises. We have extensive experience in drafting, negotiating, and enforcing contracts including licensing agreements, source code escrow agreeements, transactional sales or acquisition agreements, and other complex business contracts. We advocate for clear contracts that accurately reflect the agreement between the parties in an effort to avoid costly litigation arising out of contractual disputes.

Intellectual Property Procurement

One of our primary focuses is intellectual property procurement, specifically, assisting our clients obtain exclusive patent rights to their inventive concepts. The patenting process typically begins with one or more disclosure meetings where we endeavor to learn everything we can about the inventive concept from the client. We then prepare a draft patent application, including detailed patent illustrations, suitable for filing domestically or internationally. Once the initial draft is complete, we engage the client to assist us in reviewing and revising the draft to ensure that it correctly reflects the claimed invention. When the client signs off on the draft, we make the required filing before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (acting in its own capacity or as Receiving Office for the Patent Cooperation Treaty/World Intellectual Property Organization) or coordinate the filing in a foreign patent office through one or more of our foreign associates. Once the application is on file, there is typically a period of months to years before the patent application is taken up for substantive examination by the respective patent office. We prosecute the patent application before the patent office through to allowance (or abandonment). While the patent prosecution process is adversarial and admittedly very complex, we work closely with our clients, including them in every decision along the way, to obtain the best possible outcomes.

Basil M. Angelo

Licensed Attorney & Professional Engineer in the State of Texas

Basil Angelo is a patent attorney and licensed professional engineer with significant real-world technical expertise. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Angelo worked for more than a decade as an electrical engineer in the computer and semiconductor industries for notable companies such as Apple, Compaq, HP, and Transmeta.

Today, Mr. Angelo leverages his technical background and expertise to advocate for his clients and protect their intellectual property. Mr. Angelo’s practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property law, including preparation and prosecution of domestic and foreign patent applications, management of international patent portfolios, coordination and analysis of patent searches, drafting opinions of counsel including infringement, validity, and freedom to operate opinions, negotiation and drafting of licensing agreements, due diligence, intellectual property sales and acquisitions, and litigation of intellectual property disputes. In addition, Mr. Angelo advises early phase startups, established companies, and multi-national corporations in developing a comprehensive intellectual property strategy.

Mr. Angelo is the author of the textbook Patent Law for Scientists and Engineers published by LexisNexis ®.

Professional Licenses & Court Admissions

Licensed to practice law in the State of Texas
Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas
Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Admitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Admitted to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
Admitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

Professional Affiliations

Senior Member Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
Senior Member Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE)
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Texas Steering Committee
Houston Intellectual Property Law Association (HIPLA)
Austin Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)

Education

Doctor of Jurisprudence, South Texas College of Law
Master of Science Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University
Master of Science Industrial Engineering, University of Houston
Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering, University of Houston

Ivan B. Dennis

Patent Engineer/Technical Advisor

Ivan Dennis is an Electrical Engineer with more than two decades of technical experience in routers, hubs, switches, gateways, local WAN circuits, global WAN circuits, networking, and telephony for notable companies such as Compaq Computer Corporation, Cisco Systems, GE Capital, I.T. Works, and Micro Integration. Today, Mr. Dennis leverages his technical background and expertise to provide technical advice regarding client's inventive concepts. Mr. Dennis assists clients in preparing invention disclosure forms, gathering relevant technical information, and assisting in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications around the world.

Technical Certifications

Cisco Certified Network Professional Collaboration
Cisco Certified Network Professional Enterprise
Cisco Certified Network Associate Collaboration
Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching
Cisco Certified Design Associate
Cisco IP Contact Center Express Representative
Cisco Video Network Specialist
Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Core
Cisco Certified Specialist - Collaboration Core
Cisco Certified Specialist - Collaboration Cloud & Edge
Cisco Certified Specialist - Collaboration Call Control & Mobility
Cisco Collaboration Field Engineer Representative 1
Cisco Express Foundation Field Engineer Representative
Cisco Collaboration Systems Engineer Representative v2
Cisco Webex Solution Design and Implementation Representative
Extreme Networks Sales Specialist - Switching
Extreme Networks Design Specialist – Wireless
Extreme Networks ECS – Campus EXOS Switching & Routing
Extreme Networks EDS – Campus Fabric
Fortinet Network Security Associate - NSE1
Fortinet Network Security Associate - NSE2
Grandstream UCM Certified Specialist

Education

Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering, University of Houston