No. of offices 6 Major practice areas Intellectual Property Founded 1859 Number of offices 6 | No. of attorneys 59 Date founded 1859 Number of attorneys 59 | |
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Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, United States Profiles | ||
Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP (Fitch Even) is a premium law firm that specializes in intellectual property (IP) and technology-related law. The firm originated in Chicago, Illinois in 1859, and now has offices throughout the United States and an international client base. Most of the firm's attorneys are registered U.S. patent attorneys (i.e., authorized to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in at least one state in the U.S.) and have backgrounds in high technology or the chemical and life sciences.
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Practice
Fitch Even's litigation practice involves all areas of IP including patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and related commercial disputes. The firm served as counsel in the landmark patent case Arrhythmia v. Corazonix that dealt with the issue of patentable subject matter before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The firm successfully argued that a software-based mathematical method used in monitoring a patient's heart was patentable subject matter. The Federal Circuit relied on Arrhythmia in a subsequent case, State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group, that expanded patentable subject matter to include business methods.
The firm also prepares and prosecutes foreign and domestic patent applications, as well as trademark and copyright applications. On average, more than 300 patents per year are issued by the U.S. Patent Office with Fitch Even listed as the legal representative. The firm also filed over 470 trademark applications in 2006.
Founding
Fitch Even is the oldest law firm in continuous practice in Chicago. At its founding in 1859, Goodwin, Larned & Goodwin (Fitch Even's original name) was a general practice firm, but by 1877 the firm was holding itself out as a specialist in the area of IP. The firm has gone through several name changes in its existence, but the chain back to its founding in 1859 is yet to be broken.