OCTOBER 2001
Survey: United States and Canada: Surviving the dot-com crash
The economic downturn has affected all US and Canadian attorneys in the past year. But patents remain as popular as ever, leading to the prospect of increasing litigation in the future. Ingrid Hering examines how attorneys and courts are coping with the new challenges
| US East Coast
Non-contentious (74) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (1) |
Finnegan Henderson
Farabow Garrett & Dunner |
Washington DC |
| 2 (2) |
Kenyon &
Kenyon |
New York |
| 3 (-) |
Fish &
Richardson |
Boston |
| 4 (3) |
Pennie &
Edmonds |
New York |
| 5 (7) |
Fish & Neave |
New York |
| 6 (8) |
Burns Doane Swecker
& Mathis |
Alexandria |
| 7 (5) |
Ladas & Parry |
New York |
| 8 (6) |
Darby & Darby |
New York |
| 9 (4) |
Oblon Spivak
McClelland Maier &
Neustadt |
Arlington |
| 10 (-) |
Fitzpatrick Cella |
New York |
| US East Coast
Litigation (52) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (2) |
Finnegan Henderson
Farabow Garrett & Dunner |
Washington DC |
| 2 (1) |
Fish & Neave |
New York |
| 3 (6) |
Kenyon &
Kenyon |
New York |
| 4 (4) |
Pennie &
Edmonds |
New York |
| 5 (-) |
Fish &
Richardson |
Boston |
| 6 (3) |
Darby & Darby |
New York |
| 7 (5) |
Morgan &
Finnegan |
New York |
| 8 (-) |
Alston & Bird |
Atlanta |
| 9 (-) |
Burns Doane Swecker
& Mathis |
Alexandria |
| 10 (-) |
Mintz Levin Cohn
Ferris Glovsky & Popeo |
Boston |
| US Central
Non-contentious (57) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (4) |
Brinks Hofer Gilson
& Lione |
Chicago |
| 2 (1) |
Merchant &
Gould |
Minneapolis |
| 3 (2) |
Fulbright &
Jaworski |
Houston |
| 4 (9) |
Banner &
Witcoff |
Chicago |
| 5 (3) |
Howrey Simon Arnold
& White |
Washington DC |
| 6 (5) |
Leydig Voit &
Mayer |
Chicago |
| 7 (7) |
Marshall Gerstein
& Borun |
Chicago |
| 8 (6) |
Baker Botts |
Houston |
| 9 (-) |
Jenkens &
Gilchrist |
Houston |
| 10 (8) |
Dorsey &
Whitney |
Minneapolis |
| US Central
Litigation (42) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (3) |
Brinks Hofer Gilson
& Lione |
Chicago |
| 2 (4) |
Howrey Simon Arnold
& White |
Washingon DC |
| 3 (2) |
Fulbright &
Jaworski |
Houston |
| 4 (1) |
Merchant &
Gould |
Minneapolis |
| 5 (8) |
Kirkland &
Ellis |
Chicago |
| 6 (-) |
Frost Brown Todd |
Cincinnati |
| 7 (-) |
Banner &
Witcoff |
Chicago |
| 8 (-) |
Baker Botts |
Houston |
| 9 (7) |
Dorsey &
Whitney |
Minneapolis |
| 10 (-) |
Marshall Gerstein
& Borun |
Chicago |
| US West Coast
Non-contentious (52) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (1) |
Knobbe Martens Olson
& Bear |
Newport Beach |
| 2 (4) |
Townsend and Townsend
and Crew |
San Francisco |
| 3 (3) |
Lyon & Lyon |
Los Angeles |
| 4 (5) |
Fenwick &
West |
Palo Alto |
| 5 (10) |
Cooley Godward |
San Francisco |
| 6 (8) |
Morrison &
Foerster |
San Francisco |
| 7 (-) |
Gray Cary |
Palo Alto |
| 8 (-) |
Heller Ehrman |
San Francisco |
| 9 (-) |
Perkins Coie |
Seattle |
| 10 (-) |
Blakely Sokoloff
Taylor & Zafman |
Los Angeles |
| US West Coast
Litigation (33) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (1) |
Knobbe Martens Olson
& Bear |
Newport Beach |
| 2 (2) |
Lyon & Lyon |
Los Angeles |
| 3 (3) |
Fenwick and West |
Palo Alto |
| 4 (6) |
Townsend and Townsend
and Crew |
San Francisco |
| 5 (8) |
Morrison &
Foerster |
San Francisco |
| 6 (-) |
Cooley Godward |
San Francisco |
| 7 (4) |
Wilson Sonsini
Goodrich & Rosati |
San Francisco |
| 8 (-) |
Perkins Coie |
Seattle |
| 9 (-) |
Brobeck |
San Francisco |
| 10 (-) |
Pillsbury Madison
& Sutro |
San Francisco |
| Canada
(32) |
| Rank |
Firm |
City |
| 1 (2) |
Gowling Lafleur
Henderson |
Ottawa |
| 2 (1) |
Smart &
Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh &
Co |
Ottawa |
| 3 (5) |
Ogilvy Renault/Swabey
Ogilvy Renault |
Montreal |
| 4 (-) |
Sim Hughes/Sim
McBurney |
Toronto |
| 5 (4) |
Blake Cassels &
Graydon |
Ottawa |
| 6 (3) |
Ridout &
Maybee |
Ottawa |
| 7 (-) |
Marks & Clerk |
Ottawa |
| 8 (-) |
Robic/Leger Robic
Richard |
Montreal |
| 9 (6) |
Bereskin &
Parr |
Toronto |
| 10 (-) |
Kirby, Eades, Gale,
Baker |
Ottawa |
|
A changing of the guard has occurred in patent prosecution
activity in the US. An invigorated biotechnology and pharmaceutical
sector is stoking the dying embers of dot-com investment
enthusiasm. Louis Knobbe, co-founder of IP firm Knobbe Martens
Olson & Bear in California, paints a picture of patent activity
thriving in the biotech and medical devices field, remaining busy
in telecommunications and electronics, while work for start-ups
such as dot-coms has dropped. Over the past year the firm's clients
have included Yamaha Motor Company in Japan, Australian biotech
companies, research organizations in Europe, and established US
west coast technology companies.
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