Martin L. Stern

Marty is a partner, past member of the firm’s Management Committee, and former Co-chair of the Intellectual Property practice group. Over the course of his career, Marty has been involved in a wide variety of intellectual property litigation matters, including trademark, copyright and patent infringement matters, trade secret misappropriation, enforcement of restrictive covenants and unfair competition matters. His experience in contested patent matters includes U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proceedings, such as inter partes review (IPR) and ex parte reexamination. 

In addition to litigation matters, an extensive part of Marty’s practice includes counseling on transactional matters involving the acquisition and enforcement of United States and international patents and trademarks, with an emphasis on mechanical and electro-mechanical technologies. He regularly works with clients to implement patent procurement strategies and programs to protect their technology developments to achieve their business goals.

Solutions in action

• Manufacturing equipment, electrical switch gear, and injection molding equipment
• Mobility access systems
• Roofing products
• Lighting systems
• Thermal transfer devices
• Kitchen appliances and utensils, bath and shower products
• Commercial ovens and cooking equipment
• Storage and material handling systems
• Office furniture and equipment
• Digital wide-format printers and laptop docking stations
• Automotive seating
• Merchandise displays and equipment
• Toys, infant feeding and care products
• Medical devices

As part of his transactional practice, Marty regularly provides clients with patent and trademark clearance, validity, and infringement opinions, and negotiates licensing, technology transfer, and joint-development agreements.

Representative matters:

• Protecting a client’s flagship product line by developing a long-term and ongoing patent procurement strategy involving the creation of an international patent portfolio.
• Advising on the design around of a client’s manufacturing equipment accused of patent infringement.
• Providing ongoing advice in the design and development of a client’s manufacturing equipment product lines to avoid the patents of competitors and invalidating several competitor patents in proceedings before the US Patent Office.
• Establishing an overarching patent protection and enforcement strategy for a client’s major product line and advising on how to avoid patent infringement in a crowded field of technology.