Site Search
Professionals 20 results
Capabilities 9 results
Practice Area
Our Patent Litigation Practice is one of the country’s most active and highly regarded. Our seasoned patent litigators bring extensive courtroom experience to every matter we handle. According to Lex Machina, we are among the top three national patent defense firms in the country for number of appearances and cases filed, and we also were the top national defense firm for number of patent trials in the last five years (2018–2022).
Practice Area
Winston’s Intellectual Property (IP) Practice is one of the most active and highly regarded in the United States per Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation US, and Best Law Firms®, among other ranking organizations. Our team features some of the country’s best IP lawyers, attorneys with the technical abilities to litigate and try highly complex IP disputes, and technical lawyers who provide critical advisory services.
Industry
Insights & News 90 results
Sponsorship
|October 15, 2025
Winston & Strawn Sponsors, Speaks at ChIPs 2025 Global Summit
Winston & Strawn was a proud sponsor of the 2025 ChIPs Global Summit, which brings together women from all over the world working in technology, policy, private practice, corporations, government, academia, and beyond. Each year, the summit aims to advance innovation through diversity of thought and connect women through engagement opportunities.
In the Media
|September 23, 2025
|2 Min Read
Kathi Vidal Discusses Gender Gap in Patents with MLex
Winston & Strawn partner Kathi Vidal was featured in a MLex article where she discussed the gender gap in patents, outreach efforts in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under her leadership as the former Director, and how the office can support women inventors. A 2022 study from the USPTO showed that office policy can help close the gap between men and women in the US patent system. The paper studied the effectiveness of the Pro Se Pilot Examination Unit (PSPEU), which provides additional communication and assistance to inventors attempting to prosecute a patent without representation.
Article
|August 25, 2025
|7 Min Read
Adapting To USPTO’s Tighter Inter Partes Review Rules
This article was originally published in Law360. Any opinions in this article are not those of Winston & Strawn or its clients. The opinions in this article are the authors’ opinions only.
Other Results 12 results
Site Content
The United States Patent and Trademark Office refers to a trade secret as a type of intellectual property. This definition of trade secret is in reference to the business ownership of a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that provides a competitive edge. As a member of the World Trade Organization, the U.S. government has a responsibility to protect trade secrets. The passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) also increased trade secret protection. Under the DTSA, an individual or organization may be found liable in a civil case for the misappropriation of trade secrets.
Law Glossary
What Is the Patent Trial and Appeal Board?
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is a tribunal within U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The PTAB oversees trial proceedings, namely: inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), covered business method (CBM) review, and derivation proceedings. The Board also hears appeals from adverse patentability decisions by patent examiners in original applications, reissues, and reexaminations. And, while phasing out since the passage of the America Invents Act (AIA) in 2011, the PTAB is also responsible for deciding interferences. The PTAB was previously referred to as the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and was renamed by the AIA.
Location
Launched in 2013, Winston & Strawn’s Silicon Valley office is home to nationally recognized attorneys that draw clients from Fortune 500 companies, startups, and everything in between. Led by Kelly Hunsaker—who has deep roots in Silicon Valley spanning nearly three decades—the office draws from the firm’s deep bench strength and global network of resources to serve clients in a variety of industries, including the semiconductor, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, life sciences, and pharmaceutical sectors. The office’s intellectual property attorneys have litigated extensively in all the top national patent litigation venues, as well as before the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeals Board of the USPTO.