Focus on ...: Law

Intellectual property (IP) attorneys have become a vital part of the hightech economy and a NH institution is one of the leaders in teaching the field's next generation. Those working in the IP field say they are seeing a transformation unlike any they have experienced before.

Since the opening of the Pierce Law Center in Concord more than 30 years ago, the state's only law school has focused on intellectual property as a specialty and, as a result, the industry considers it a top school for IP law.

In fact, IP is so ingrained in the state's legal profession that Pierce Law has a separate Web site dedicated to the subject (www.ipmall.info). In addition, large firms like McLane, Graf, Raulerson and Middleton in Manchester are producing IP newsletters.

Terri Tucker, a partner at Grossman, Tucker, Perreault and Pfleger in Manchester, specializes in trademark issues. She has been involved in the field for more than 20 years, first as a paralegal and then as an attorney.

"Intellectual property law is certainly growing in the state," says Tucker, who graduated from Pierce Law Center in 1993. "More companies in New Hampshire and from abroad recognize that they do not have to go to Boston or New York City It is happening here, but without the cost of doing business in a major city."

The Online Revolution

However, just because IP is thriving in NH does not mean that the business is local. The Internet revolution has forever changed the way many IP lawyers handle their practice.

"There are many clients who we never meet face-to-face," says Dan Coolidge, a partner with Coolidge and Graves in Warner. "Many of our clients are international arid, in the past, many of those companies would have representatives in the United States. However, with the Internet, I do 99 percent of my work over e-mail. Research that used to take me up to two weeks now takes minutes."

Scott Asmus, a partner with Maine and Asmus in Nashua, says the advent of the Internet, beyond the convenience of communication, has provided more opportunities for his law firm.

"Early on, domain name 'squatters' rights issues were big because there were millions of addresses being issued," Asmus says, adding that the government acted by issuing an anticyber squatting act in 1999 that made it possible for trademark owners to take cyber-squatters to court.

Asmus says this law highlighted the many nuances involved with IP and the Internet. "Many of these laws on the books, now and in the future, you wouldn't think would be an issue, but they are. Unfortunately, legislation is a necessary evil to keep people honest," he says.

As new laws and rulings try to keep up with evolving technology, larger firms are committing more resources to the practice area. "For a long time, the business of IP was left to boutique firms that worked on referral," Coolidge says. "Now every large firm has an IP department."

IP and Small Businesses

A trend that IP attorneys in NH see is that more small businesses, especially in the technology and biotech industries, are in need of IP training and representation.

"We are seeing more smaller companies looking for representation," Asmus says. "They know that IP is a complicated process and a headache to manage even one patent."

The convenience of the Internet has proved to be a doubleedged sword, Tucker says, particularly filing of IP-related paperwork with the U.S. government. "If someone wants to file for a patent, a trademark or a copyright, it has never been easier and, in fact, people can practically do all the steps from their computer," she says. "However, it is so simple, a layperson can have a false sense of oversimplification. Most people do not have the full background and can make a costly mistake."

As a result, Asmus says that the business community has clamored for more education and training in the area of IP, "We and the New Hampshire Bar Association have responded to this by offering more tools for businesses dealing with IP issues," Asmus says, such as IP forums for small businesses to help them stay abreast of trends.