Experience

Energy

About

Innovation, regulation, and consumer choice are shaping the energy landscape and markets. Achieving greater efficiencies, creating scalable products, and building networks of supporting infrastructure are key drivers for energy producing industries as they respond to challenges and forecast future needs. As companies develop and improve technologies and substances that fuel innovations and enable myriad advancements, the need for sophisticated and creative intellectual property strategies is clear. Finnegan blends science and engineering expertise with decades of intellectual property legal experience to work with companies delivering high value energy solutions.

Understanding the law, science, and technology

Finnegan advises clients on virtually every intellectual property issue, whether it is related to patents, trademarks, copyrights, or trade secrets. Our practice comprises experienced attorneys and professionals who have an in-depth understanding of the complex legal, technical, regulatory, and business issues faced by industries innovating in the energy sector.

We help with:

Advising on potential litigation strategies and deploying experienced trial and appellate teams to protect clients’ intellectual property
Developing and executing prosecution strategies to ensure strong patents and a robust IP portfolio
Analyzing competitors’ IP to avoid infringement and identify weaknesses in their portfolios
Increasing portfolio value by identifying potentially high-value assets that can be improved using strategic prosecution techniques
Preparing and negotiating licenses and other transactions to commercialize IP rights
Counseling on research and development options that minimize patent obstacles
Providing due diligence for merger and acquisition targets
Counseling on business-related matters, including antitrust and competition issues
Challenging and defending post-grant review proceedings before the PTAB, including inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR)
Providing trademark prosecution and counseling services

Comprehensive legal, technical, and strategic experience protecting innovation

Our Energy practice includes attorneys and professionals with degrees in relevant scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, mechanical engineering, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry, as well as attorneys with extensive experience in brand management and protection. Many joined Finnegan after holding positions in industry, at universities, or as examiners with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Everyone in this industry

Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present novel challenges for businesses looking to invest in intellectual property. Protecting those investments and understanding the innovation landscape is where Finnegan comes in.

View Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Chemical

From basic elements to highly specialized goods, chemicals play a fundamental role in everything from the raw materials used in manufacturing to the high-tech products that allow us to communicate, travel, eat, and save lives.

View Chemical

Clean Energy and Renewables

Innovative technologies that produce renewable, clean, efficient, and affordable energy are paramount in the quest to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

View Clean Energy and Renewables

Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry is investing in advances in both upstream and downstream sectors of the industry, from exploration to field and pipeline development to refining.

View Oil and Gas

Experience

Secured a decisive victory for client US Synthetic Corp. (USS) at the ITC. After a full hearing, the ALJ found that respondents infringed multiple claims of USS’s patent and that the claims were valid and supported by a domestic industry, but an initial Commission ruling under § 101 temporarily prevented a finding of violation of Section 337. The Federal Circuit reversed the § 101 ruling, and on remand the ITC found a violation and issued a limited exclusion order barring infringing polycrystalline diamond products from entry into the United States, securing final relief for USS.

337-TA-1236, ITC, Judge Elliot

Secured a significant victory for client US Synthetic Corporation (USS) with a precedential decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) overturning an unfavorable 35 U.S.C. § 101 eligibility ruling from the International Trade Commission (ITC).

23-1217, Fed. Cir., Judges Chen, Dyk, Stoll

Represented REC before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and in parallel IPR filings regarding TOPCon solar cells.

2:24-cv-00260, E.D. Tex., Judge Gilstrap
IPR2025-00592, -00593, -00594, -00595, PTAB

Drafted and negotiated a global cross-license on behalf of a leading specialty chemicals company.

Represented REC before the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and in parallel inter partes review (IPR) proceedings regarding half-cut solar cells, including Federal Circuit appeals.

1:20-cv-01622, D. Del., Judge Noreika
IPR2021-00988, -00989, PTAB, Judges Kaiser, Obermann, Range
23-1508, 23-1516, Fed. Cir., Judges Cunningham, Lourie, Reyna

Represented defendants in a patent infringement action relating to lab-grown diamonds.

1:20-cv-00189, S.D.N.Y., Judge Rakoff