Technical Design Consulting

Providing meaningful design assistance

Brooks Kushman’s “Design-Around Plus” is a unique service that combines elements of law, marketing, and design. Any company in search of opportunities in new markets can rely on us to assess the existing technology and produce a “patent map” that sets forth the market participants and the coverage of their patents. In this regard, we can help clients find paths to market by designing around existing inventions. While we’re not alone in offering “design-around” solutions, we take the process one step further, providing a cross-disciplinary mix of design, legal, and strategic advice. By seeking our assistance at an early stage in the product development process, clients can avoid needlessly spending money on research and development which results in a “false start” that ultimately cannot be commercialized. And, just as important, our service can significantly reduce the time required to take a product from conception to production.

Issuing patent opinions

Brooks Kushman has extensive experience providing clients with opinions relating to novelty, patent infringement, and validity issues, and our attorneys are skilled in conducting worldwide intellectual property survey studies. We provide clients with legal and technical foundations for rational decisions at all stages of their product development. We can evaluate the merits of a charge of infringement made by a patent owner. In the absence of any known potential problem, we can conduct a technical survey which provides an overview of existing patents in a particular area. Once an invention is developed, a novelty search can yield related patents and publications in order to determine potential patentability. Before funds are expended on manufacturing and marketing, a freedom to practice opinion can reduce the risks associated with introducing a new product or service.