Stefan V Stein

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Intellectual Property Practice

Intellectual property, in many cases the most valuable and least protected asset of companies and individuals, consists of several forms of intangible property including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. For business executives and creative individuals, these are vital components of success. Intellectual Property law protects your innovations from unauthorized use and exploitation by third parties, allowing you to fully benefit from what you have created.

Intellectual Property law can be intimidating and confusing without knowledgeable counsel. GrayRobinson's Intellectual Property Practice Group eliminates your headaches by providing a broad range of services to protect and enforce your intellectual property rights.

Companies and individuals seek out GrayRobinson's experience and knowledge in intellectual property matters. From start to finish, our attorneys can direct you through the process of obtaining copyrights and trademarks and protecting valuable trade and business secrets. They are also experienced in enforcing rights related to trademark and copyright matters, including copyright and trademark infringement actions.

For companies or individuals interested in obtaining a registered trademark, the Intellectual Property Law Group can conduct searches to determine whether the desired name or logo is already taken and prepare applications when appropriate. Our attorneys also can provide advice on whether the logo or name is suitable, and whether it would be more appropriate to register a trademark in Florida or with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, the firm prepares copyright applications and assists with registration of copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office.

In today's high-tech society, trademark and copyright infringement is prevalent on the Internet. It is becoming increasingly common for a company's website content to be stolen or extensively plagiarized by a competitor. Web site content can be protected by copyright law. GrayRobinson can take the steps necessary to protect your intellectual property rights on the Internet.

Our attorneys provide legal counsel regarding trade secrets, Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements, Noncompetition Agreements, and Employment Agreements with restrictive covenants related to the protection of your intellectual property. We also prosecute patent applications and engage in patent-related litigation.

Litigation Practice

GrayRobinson's litigation department is committed to providing powerful representation throughout the State of Florida.

We have experience at every level of the court system, including all state and federal courts through the appellate level to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Claims. We seek creative solutions for our clients. As part of our client-centered approach we attempt to evaluate all available options to resolve disputes. These options include arbitration, mediation, negotiation and other creative, but less obvious, solutions. We work promptly, efficiently and cost-effectively with persistence, determination and tenacity.

We have developed a team approach to litigation, in which we assemble a team of lawyers and other professionals to ensure that our clients receive sound advice and the strongest possible representation. When necessary, and with client approval, attorneys from other practices within the firm are consulted regarding specific issues with which they have experience, such as tax and securities matters or environmental and land use issues. Finally, we have developed relationships with experts in Florida and throughout the nation to provide added depth and perspective to our legal services. Realizing the difficulties of other controlling outside expenses, such as experts, we have developed detailed policies for dealing with experts and work closely with our clients to ensure the appropriate expert is chosen to meet their needs. This team approach is a hallmark of the GrayRobinson law firm, and is particularly evident in our litigation department.

To ensure our team approach is also cost-effective, we explore and utilize alternative billing strategies often proposing a blended rate that allows us to assemble the strongest possible force for the case at an hourly billing rate consistent with the client's fee expectations. We are always willing to discuss result driven arrangements if a case merits such a strategy.

We have the resources and personnel to handle the most complex cases. Our client service includes a computerized document control system that we developed to manage complex litigation. We frequently use demonstrative graphs, charts, models and the latest cutting edge technology if necessary to properly present our clients' cases to facilitate understanding of complicated matters. We employ the latest communication and legal research technology to save our clients time and money in research, through on-line document sharing and other information exchange. Our computer system can further work in real-time with our clients and staff, promoting secure extranet sharing of case material.

Business Litigation Certified Attorney - Florida Bar

Stefan V Stein
Gray Robinson PA
201 N Franklin St #2200
Tampa FL 33602
Tel: 813 273-5000
Fax: 813 273-5145
E-mail: stefan.stein@gray-robinson.com

Practice Areas
* Copyright
* Intellectual Property
* Litigation
* Patent
* Technology Licensing
* Trademark

Steve has limited his practice to Intellectual Property law for over 25 years. His practice focuses on Intellectual Property litigation, prosecution and licensing.

Steve has been lead trial counsel in numerous multi-million dollar intellectual property law cases, including bench and jury trials, arbitrations and administrative hearings. He frequently provides expert testimony and serves as local counsel in Florida for law firms throughout the country.

He has attained recognition as an Advocate under the National College of Advocacy's Achievement Recognition Program. For specific cases, he has been admitted pro hac vice in California, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, New York, District of Columbia, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Kansas and Ohio.

Steve is a second-generation patent attorney registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 1982, he became a registered professional engineer (Electrical Engineering, Florida). His patent, trademark and copyright prosecution practice centers on high-tech electrical, electronic, computer hardware & software and Internet technologies. He also has extensive experience in medical devices from instrumentation to medical valves.

Steve routinely works on intellectual property licensing transactions, including confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements; exclusive and nonexclusive licenses; software agreements; research and development agreements; joint venture agreements; and manufacturing and supply agreements. He also conducts due diligence for mergers and acquisitions involving intellectual property, dealing with issues such as scope-of-protection, invalidity, infringement, and freedom-to-operate investigations and opinions.