Smith Hopen, Patent Attorneys - Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Florida

Smith & Hopen represents clients world-wide in a practice limited exclusively to intellectual property law including patents, trademarks and related litigation. The firm is one of the largest IP practices in the State of Florida and represents clients ranging from independent inventors to Fortune 100 institutions. All attorneys at Smith & Hopen are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Anton Hopen

Board Certified, AV-Rated

Nicholas Pfeifer and Andriy Lytvyn

Ahead of oral arguments at the U.S. Federal Circuit on an IPR appeal.

Andriy Lytvyn

Interviewed by NBC on trademark law

News & Updates

Smith Hopen Partner Andriy Lytvyn Board Certified

Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 12/6/2018) Andriy Lytvyn earned his board certification in Intellectual Property Law by the Florida Bar this year. He is one of only 141 attorneys currently holding this certification. According to the Florida Bar, board certification recognizes attorneys’ special knowledge, skills and proficienc... read full article

New Guidelines May Help Patent Software

Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 5/8/2018) The pendulum may have swung back to patenting software again. Since 2014 when the Supreme Court handed down its inscrutable ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014), the patentability of software and computer systems became a gray area of law. Some also felt that former US... read full article

Two recent Supreme Court decisions shape the scope of post-grant patent proceedings

Paul Murty, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 5/8/2018) On April 24, 2018, the Supreme Court announced opinions in two cases involving patent rights—Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, and SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu. The long-awaited Oil States opinion decided on the legality of inter partes reviews (IPRs); simila... read full article

New - USPTO Issues Guidance on Patent-Eligible Subject Matter (35 U.S.C. 101)

Paul Murty, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 4/20/2018) As many software-related inventors can attest, patent protection can be difficult to obtain for software applications. Most software-related patent applications are rejected by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examiners, particularly under 35 U.S.C. § 101 – the statute th... read full article

Six Questions for Building a Brand

Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 3/27/2018) 1. Is your brand already in use by another? When creating a brand, it is important to verify that there are no other similar brand names used in connection with similar goods/services. The existence of multiple brand names could cause consumer confusion and pote... read full article

Supreme Court and Patent Death Squad

Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 11/28/2017) Inter Partes Review (IPR) is an administrative proceeding before the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). IPRs are generally an 18-month process in which a petitioner seeks invalidation of a patent based on prior publication (e.g., “prior ar... read full article

More News

Inter Partes Review

February 22, 2017: Smith & Hopen as counsel for Petitioner filed its Reply in a Federal Circuit Appeal against Apple Computer on two decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Petitioner argues that the PTAB found that prior art rendered Petitioner's patent invalid when even opposing counsel conceded a missing limitation was not met. Both sides are currently awaiting the schedule for oral arguments in Washington, D.C. to be set.
August 4, 2016: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) denied institution of a trial (IPR2016-00539 ) against patent number 7,748,325 for all claims asserted. Smith & Hopen prosecuted the original patent before the USPTO and defended the patent before the PTAB. The same patent was also found valid and infringed by the U.S. Court of Claims which awarded a verdict amounting to approximately $70 million over the life of the patent. This is the largest known patent award in Court of Claims history. The non-institution decision is final and non-appealable.
October 6, 2015: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) denied institution of a trial (IPR201500569 ) against patent number RE44748 for all claims asserted in a related litigation. Smith & Hopen wrote, prosecuted and defended the patent before the PTAB. The same patent was also found valid and infringed the same month by a jury in Tampa, Florida that awarded a multi-million dollar verdict.
March 4, 2015: The PTAB denied institution of a trial (IPR201401414 ) against patent number RE43904. Smith & Hopen both wrote the subject patent and represented the patent owner before the PTAB, opposing counsel: Kilpatrick Towsend & Stockton LLP.

First Ever CMB Denial

February 18, 2014: Defended US Patent RE43904 against a Covered Business Method Review before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Obtained the first ever non-institution decision in history (CBM2013-00047)

Largest Court of Claims Patent Award

December 19, 2014: the U.S. Court of Federal Claims found that the United States Army infringed on U.S. Pat. 7,748,325 (written by Smith & Hopen) for a Firearms Projectile that replaces lead-based ammunition.
The court initially awarded the patent owner $15,617,533.68 in damages as of April 30, 2013.
With interest, that judgment should be in the $25m range by the end of 2015 and approximately $70,000,000 over the life of the patent (Court's Order).

Representative Clients

Recently Awarded Patents

Patent	Client	Invention
10,138,143 11/27/2018	University of South Florida	a system for removing ammonia from a freshwater environment
10,140,825 11/27/2018	Vanguard Products Group, Inc.	an anti-theft device for monitoring a universal serial bus type C connector
10,136,825 11/27/2018	University of South Florida	a long-term implantable silicon carbide neural interface device using the electrical field effect
10,130,683 11/20/2018	University of South Florida	a combination therapy of stem cell mobilizing agents and stem cell transplantations
10,133,949 11/20/2018	University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.	synthetic data generation of time series data
10,125,037 11/13/2018	University of South Florida	a composition and method to reduce sediment and bacterial contamination from water
10,119,286 11/6/2018	The Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.	a wave propagation apparatus
10,121,212 11/6/2018	University of South Florida	a system and method for transportation demand management
10,116,159 10/30/2018	TheFlorida State University Research Foundation, Inc.	family of isolated battery energy storage system (BESS) with multiple functions for DC grid application
10,115,276 10/30/2018	Phillip Flagg Rockwell	a portable security surveillance device
10,104,895 10/23/2018	HSC Organics LLC	compositions and methods for improving plant health
10,105,419 10/23/2018	Eastern Vision Limited	dietary supplements and formulations

View more patents.

Recently Issued Trademarks

Registration	Mark	Registrant
5,622,200 12/4/2018	IBEXX for heat pumps for swimming pools	AquaComfort Solutions, LLC.
5,624,260 12/4/2018	FLORIDA CYBERHUB for education services, namely, providing training in the form of online courses and seminars in the field of cyber security; providing online non-downloadable course, in the field of cyber security featuring training exercises in securing computing platforms	University of South Florida.
5,617,185 11/27/2018	UNICORN IQ for training courses in strategic planning relating to advertising, promotion, marketing and business	Unicorn Innovations, LLC.
5,619,416 11/27/2018	55 RESORT for leasing of apartments, management of apartments, rental of apartments	L3 Development LLC.
5,619,418 11/27/2018	55 RESORT for leasing of apartments, management of apartments, rental of apartments	L3 Development LLC.
5,619,162 11/27/2018	C-Shaped Design for cufflinks	Casual Cufflinks LLC.
5,611,184 11/20/2018	VERIFUME for downloadable mobile applications for managing pest control services	Verifume Corp..
5,607,173 11/13/2018	Design Logo for distributorship services in the field of foodservice equipment and supplies; on-line retail store services featuring foodservice equipment and supplies; on-line wholesale store services featuring foodservice equipment and supplies; providing showrooms for the goods of others in the field of restaurant and foodservice equipment and supplies	Louis Wohl & Sons, Inc..
5,607,238 11/13/2018	HANDS ACROSS TAMPA BAY for charitable fundraising	Julie Weintraub's Hands Across the Bay Inc..
5,608,570 11/13/2018	INTRANS-IT for computer application software for handheld computers, namely, software for use in product delivery verification and signature recapture	Dynavistics, Inc..
5,602,233 11/6/2018	VPAY 360 for electronic processing of insurance claims and payment data exclusively between financial institutions, merchants, and insurance companies, the foregoing excluding banking services	VPay, Inc..
5,601,355 11/6/2018	Design Logo for Interior design services, namely, foodservice and hospitality planning and design and On-line retail store services featuring foodservice equipment and supplies; On-line wholesale store services featuring foodservice equipment and supplies	Louis Wohl & Sons, Inc..
5,596,948 10/30/2018	MERMOSA for wine	Celestine Blu, LLC.

More trademarks issued through Smith & Hopen