Intellectual Property Law

Hoffberg & Associates is a boutique intellectual property law firm, located in Westchester County NY, and services a global clientelle. We specialize in high complexity strategies to initiate, grow, and deploy business models predicated on intellectual assets. Mr. Steven M. Hoffberg, principal of Hoffberg & Associates, is a seasoned patent attorney, as well as an accomplished inventor. Intellectual Property Law involves legal rights that artise from the action of the mind. These rights arise under statues or common law, and generally include patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and restrictive covenants (agreements between parties). Utility patents protect useful conceptions, while design patents encompass ornamental (non- functional) aspects of useful articles, in each case which are novel and non-obvious, and meet other statutory, administrative, and judically-created constraints. The process begins with a patent application, during which the patent examiner reviews the application to ensure compliance with requirements. Trademarks protect symbols of goodwill. Trademark rights arise naturally, and unregistered marks are protectable. However, federal or state registration provides enhanced benefits. Copyrights protect the work of authors and artists against copying, and are automatically protected. Federal registration is required before enforcement, and provides enhanced rights. Ttrade secrets exist as commercially valuable information that is not generally known to the public, and are maintained in secrecy. A trade secret may be protected in face of disclosure by an agreement (a non-disclosure agreement) between the disclosor and recipient to maintain the confidentiality. Restrictive covenants permit parties to define relationships that define rights and relationships with respect to information and activities, and include non-compete, non- circumvent, and similar covenants. Hoffberg & Associates counsels clients with respect to most areas of intellectual property law.