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Andrew Zappia, a partner in Troutman Pepper’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, is quoted in the New York Daily Record article, “Intellectual Property Basics: A Look at Tips and Trends.”
“It is important to think about how to protect intellectual property,” said Andrew P. Zappia, partner with Troutman Pepper. “But you need to be careful with what you choose to protect. Some companies want to protect everything, and they use too many of their resources on patents.”
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“The key to a trade secret is maintaining secrecy,” said Zappia, who focuses on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation and licensing work. “There is no government process to file for. It’s protected mainly under state law and dependent on the ability to maintain secrecy. “
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“For startups in the tech space, really most of their assets are in IP,” Zappia said. “It’s really important for them to be conscious of the value of their IP. Patenting is often a challenge for them because the patent process is more expensive [than trademarks and copyrights] and it’s very hard for clients to do it themselves.”
International IP is even more expensive due to foreign lawyers and filing fees, something companies, especially startups, need to be careful about, Zappia noted.
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“Texas had become a hotbed for patent litigation,” Zappia said. “Plaintiffs tend to view Texas as a favorable forum. They tend to like the jury pool and certain judges are viewed as favorable to enforcing patents. Delaware is another big forum for patent cases, though it’s viewed as more defendant favorable than Texas.”
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