Registered Patent Attorneys in Tampa, Florida

United States Registered Patent Attorneys

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

Nilay Choksi

Presenting a lecture on patents to UCF

BioFlorida

Kari McDermott, Robert Varkonyi and Michele Lawson

Michael McGaw

Biotechnology patent attorney, Denver-based

News & Updates

President Trump Vows to Protect Intellectual Property
Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/16/2017)

Brazil to grant 230,000 patents
Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/14/2017)

Patenting Fitness Programs?
Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/13/2017)

Prevailing through the uncertainty of 35 U.S.C. § 101
Andriy Lytvyn, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/10/2017)

Charter found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking
Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/9/2017)

Trademark Registration - Less is More
Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 8/7/2017)

Patent Examiners are not the Adversary
Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 5/10/2017)

Failure to Mark Patented Article Creates New Issues
Anton Hopen, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 4/25/2017)

The Evolving Jurisprudence of Section 101
Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 3/17/2017)

PCT Filing - Priority Date and Statutory Bar Date
Nicholas Pfeifer, Smith & Hopen, PA ( 2/23/2017)

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	Granted	Client	Invention
9,730,679	8/15/2017	University of South Florida	a device for sterile uterine sampling and drug delivery
9,729,994	8/8/2017	University of South Florida	a system and method for listener controlled beamforming
9,717,217	8/1/2017	The Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.	a small animal restraining harness or jacket
9,722,180	8/1/2017	University of South Florida	a mask-stack-shift method to fabricate organic solar array by spray
9,720,599	8/1/2017	University of South Florida	a magnetic coprocessor and method of use
9,715,760	7/25/2017	University of South Florida	analysis-suitable geometry from discrete point sets using a mesh-free method
9,716,999	7/25/2017	Syniverse Communications, Inc	a method of and system for utilizing a first network authentication result for a second network
9,708,728	7/18/2017	The Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.	growth of metal oxide single crystals from alkaline-earth metal fluxes
9,700,628	7/11/2017	The Regents of the University of Colorado	a heparin-mimicking sulfonated reverse thermal gel for the delivery of heparin-binding therapeutic proteins
9,700,259	7/11/2017	University of South Florida	a rapid custom intra-articular ligament reconstruction guide
9,700,900	7/11/2017	Black Shell Technologies, LLC	a counter-flow ore separator
9,704,415	7/11/2017	Freedom Scientific, Inc.	a dynamic auto-advance feature for refreshable braille displays

View more patents.

Recently Issued Trademarks

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,267,606 was granted on Tuesday, August 15, 2017 for the mark Butterfly Silhouette in association with counseling in the field of developing, strengthening and sustaining well-balanced families and family relationships; foster care; providing emotional counseling and emotional support services for troubled and at-risk youth and their families by The Children's Home, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,256,841 was granted on Tuesday, August 01, 2017 for the mark FARM STAR in association with fresh fruit and vegetables by Naiz Trading House, LLC.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,245,371 was granted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 for the mark Stylized Letter S in association with healthcare by The Pelvic Floor Institute, LLC.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,244,854 was granted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 for the mark Shield Design in association with charitable services, namely, training service dogs for veterans by K9 Partners for Patriots, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,244,852 was granted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 for the mark Ring Design in association with charitable services, namely, training service dogs for veterans by K9 Partners for Patriots, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,244,851 was granted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 for the mark K-9 PARTNERS FOR PATRIOTS in association with charitable services, namely, training service dogs for veterans by K9 Partners for Patriots, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,246,072 was granted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 for the mark EZ-DERM in association with nutritional supplements for pets; nutritional supplements in the nature of nutritionally fortified soft chews for pets by Stratford Pharmaceuticals, LLC.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,242,114 was granted on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 for the mark SIMPLY JULIE CAJUN GIRL in association with seasonings and spices by Simply Julie, LLC.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,239,950 was granted on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 for the mark INCREDI-BULL in association with quality management services, namely, quality evaluation and analysis, quality assurance, and quality control in the field of educational courses at the university level by University of South Florida.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,239,949 was granted on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 for the mark Bovine Skull Logo in association with quality management services, namely, quality evaluation and analysis, quality assurance, and quality control in the field of educational courses at the university level by University of South Florida.

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,237,581 was granted on Tuesday, July 04, 2017 for the mark ATHLETE READINESS in association with online business networking services in the field of sports and athletics by Reactor International, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,235,454 was granted on Tuesday, July 04, 2017 for the mark BRACKEN ENGINEERING in association with consulting services in the field of repair and restoration of buildings; Consulting services in the field of subsurface remediation namely, soil erosion control services; ngineering services in the fields of structural and geotechnical engineering, building and property condition assessments, repair and restoration, subsurface remediation, geophysical surveying; consulting services in the fields of structural and geotechnical engineering, building and property condition assessments, geophysical surveying; consulting services in the field of subsurface remediation namely, soil sampling for analysis purposes by Bracken Engineering, Inc..

U.S. Trademark Registration No. 5,231,420 was granted on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 for the mark OPEN PARTNERSHIP EDUCATION NETWORK in association with educational services, namely, organizing, and conducting conferences, symposiums, seminars, forums, classes, and workshops, in the field of education and distributing educational material in connection therewith through an on-line portal by University of South Florida.

More trademarks issued through Smith & Hopen