Computer Hardware and Software Patents

O&R patent lawyers have significant legal and industry experience with computer hardware and software patents, and some have worked in software development. We are particularly well-versed in the complex and changing legal landscape for software patents, both domestically and in significant jurisdictions outside the U.S.

Given the breadth of our experience as a firm, we are able to evaluate new innovations by viewing both the current and historical context in order to identify what aspects are truly protectable. Because of our experience, we are often able to identify prior art that even the inventors may not be aware of, which can allow us to craft patent protection that may avoid hurdles in examination or post-grant challenges. We save time for our clients because we seldom require extensive tutoring on the underlying technology and can converse with the inventors at a high technical level.

Our experience includes work in the following areas:

Distributed and dataflow computation and database systems

  • distributed dataflow systems for transaction processing

  • network based architectures

  • processors and memory systems

  • custom multiprocessor systems, for example, for molecular simulation

  • cache, distributed shared memory, and RAID

Computer security

  • system-level virus and intrusion detection approaches

  • hardware-based secure processors

  • distributed shared trust, for example, for banking applications

Compiler technologies, both for purely software and hybrid hardware-software design and formal verification techniques

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