Duffy & Sweeney’s  intellectual property attorney team understands the intersection of technology and business and, ultimately, how to help clients protect their assets. With a blend of sophisticated in-house and large-firm experience, we counsel clients in matters of copyright and trademark; software and other licensing; trade secret and unfair competition disputes; and beyond.

We address the critical challenges facing businesses today in the intellectual property and technology arena.

Duffy & Sweeney’s lawyers have successfully defended our clients’ intellectual property rights in courts and arbitrations throughout the country as well as before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We’ve prevailed in obtaining and defending against injunctive relief, often in a short timeframe and facing more heavily staffed legal teams from national firms.

Our technology clients range from start-ups to large-publicly traded companies with international operations. We protect their investment in software development, management and business processes, and inventions using innovative customer solutions. Our intellectual property attorney team is recognized by our clients as a significant resource for their growth and success. In fact, Roger Hood was recognized by Best Lawyers as the 2017 Lawyer-of-the-Year in the category of trademark law.

Our office is based on South Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island in the rapidly developing waterfront / I-195 region, connecting the East Side to Downtown and the Knowledge District. Contact us at 401.455.0700.

• D&S litigators successfully prosecuted to settlement, on the eve of trial, claims on behalf of its technology client arising out of a failed SAP global ERP implementation.
• The firm provided legal counsel and contract negotiations for a comprehensive dictation, transcription and document production services contract for a major healthcare system including voice, dictation, and remote applications for doctors. The new services consolidated four hospitals utilizing different procedures and into one set of applications.
• The firm provided legal advice for an international semi-conductor company’s renewal of a Microsoft Enterprise agreement for a leading integrated circuit manufacturer in a contract that consisted of more than ten integrated sets of terms covering on-site and hosted service offerings. The primary license rights pertained to US operations.
• The firm represented a leading technology company in a dispute over payment for services in designing a website for a sports-related social media client that, after taking possession of its design, refused payment and later brought suit in New York. The D&S team succeeded in securing a ruling from Federal District Court defeating the opponent’s attempt to have the case heard in New York and securing jurisdiction in the client’s home state of Rhode Island.
• When a firm client in the music technology and consumer electric products industry was accused of patent infringement, D&S filed a declaratory judgment suit in Florida. The opponent moved to dismiss the Florida suit, but D&S attorneys prevailed, obtaining dismissals of infringement suits filed in Florida and Washington on the same patent.
• D&S defended a Fortune 100 company in a large and multi-faceted patent case in multi-district litigation in the Central District of California.  The case successfully concluded in 2014, after the D&S team obtained a decision on all claims of no literal infringement and invalidated several claims in a combined attack before the Court and the Patent and Trademark Office.
• The firm represented a RI-based innovator in the field of label media in an offering of common stock to facilitate research and development and, ultimately, the growth and commercialization of new intellectual property. The offering created additional jobs in the engineering and chemistry space and an expanded facility.
• The firm represented a leading consumer electronics and audio supplier in a deal with the owner of a global brand to acquire its operating assets and the right to use the three brand names in the professional audio space via a trademark license agreement. The deal included inventory, operating assets and trademark license fee.
• The firm represented a technology client in a $15 million stock deal involving the sale of a software company with proprietary software for the waste industry to an Irish company looking to expand its US operations.
• The firm represented a designer and manufacturer of flow metering solutions in its acquisition of technology assets pivotal to a new-product launch. The deal included a long-term manufacturing agreement to help build the product and an escrow of source code.
• The firm spearheaded extensive negotiations with a nationally recognized computer giant to update three major contracts that represent the cornerstone of a leading financial institution’s IT service platform. Key issues included information security, background checks, and compliance, among other issues.
• Acting as outside counsel on behalf of a national healthcare insurer in its effort to replace the sourcing vendor for all IT functions, firm attorneys negotiated terms of a master agreement with the new supplier for IT services in a five-year multi-million dollar contract.
• The D&S team completed a major product development agreement for a digital signal processing company — a world leader in high performance signal processing solutions — with a maker of power supplies, battery testers and other precise measurement devices for automotive, aviation, energy and other industries in China with offices in the US. The deal involved an exclusivity period and extensive negotiating with a Taiwanese legal team.
• The D&S team negotiated a license on behalf of a major health care system with a US-based vendor to implement a unique application of proprietary encryption software for secure mobile device management which allows doctors to use mobile technology for patient records in a six-figure contract.
• In a trade secret and unfair competition case in California Superior Court against one of the nation’s largest video game publishers and its wholly-owned video game developer, D&S litigators obtained an injunction requiring the developer to turn over computer source code it was withholding from the firm’s client. The injunction was affirmed on appeal.
• Duffy & Sweeney litigators secured a $1.2 million judgment, including an award of attorneys’ fees and punitive damages, in a trade secrets case tried to a jury on behalf of a RI manufacturer against its former employee and competitor.