Our mission is to advance our clients' intellectual property interests by superior analysis, creativity and pragmatic judgment.
Every aspect of our business flows from that statement of purpose.
This Mission Statement is written at a time when intellectual property has assumed unprecedented importance, globalization is a motive force in our personal and professional lives, and digital/biogenetic revolutions are reshaping the technological landscape.
It is also a time of mergers and consolidations in the legal industry. With the emergence of intellectual property law as a "premium" legal endeavor, a large number of general practice megafirms have acquired patent law boutique firms in a race to achieve "full service" capability, with purported economies of scale.
IPTL stands against the flood-tide of such consolidation. We remain small in relative terms, with a commitment to being highly responsive to our clients and maintaining our focus on cutting edge technological innovation. Our work leverages our expertise in biotechnology, chemistry, materials science, solid state physics, microelectronics and information technologies.
IPTL is a service business. As in all service businesses, response time, quality and personal attention are paramount. We have a critical advantage in this effort over bureaucratized firms of substantially larger size in our pursuit of maximizing the strength and scope of our clients' proprietary rights.
We are at the threshold of a period of rapid scientific convergence in which many disciplines of technology will meld into new fields such as nanomachines, biomimetics, quantum optic computing, informatics, transgenetics, "smart" materials, microsurgery, perceptual/simulative ("virtual") technologies and many others not yet even envisioned.
IPTL exists to create a place of intersection - of law and technology, concept and implementation, the present and the future.
Our offices are ten miles from Research Triangle Park , where over 50,000 people are engaged in technological efforts. The future is under construction there, in wet labs, clean rooms, virtual fabs, biocontainment facilities and workstation emulators, where imagination, experience and capital are combining to build the next generation of technologies. Our careers and dreams are bound to that future and to the excitement that will accompany it.
Steven J. Hultquist
IPTL Founder
IPTL was founded on April 1, 1992 by Steven J. Hultquist.
Prior to founding IPTL, Mr. Hultquist was a partner of Harlow, Hultquist, Evans & London, P.A. and "Of Counsel" in intellectual property matters to its predecessor firm, Harlow, Reilly, Derr & Stark, P.A.
IPTL began operations in Research Triangle Park at 100 Park Drive, and three years later moved to larger offices at 200 Park Drive. In June 1997 the firm moved to offices on Quadrangle Drive in Chapel Hill, and in 2002 the firm moved to its present offices at The Exchange at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill.
From its inception, IPTL has represented clients in intellectual property matters in a wide variety of technologies, including chemical, biological, electronic, solid-state, mechanical and information technologies.
In addition to its primary focus on securing intellectual property rights involving patents, trademarks, copyrights and domain names, the firm has been regularly involved in intellectual property-related transactional work and in providing counsel and expert witness services in contested matters. IPTL’s transactional work has been widely varied including many types of transactions: technology transfer, purchase, sale and leases of proprietary equipment, due diligence incident to acquisitions, product/process clearance, agreements related to joint ventures and other collaborations, infringement matters, misappropriation of technology and corporate opportunity, brokering of technology, assessments of proprietary rights incident to initial public offerings, private placements and venture capital funding, determinations of inventorship, and implementation of systems for the administration and management of intellectual property. In contested matters, the firm has acted as local counsel and associated counsel in state and federal court proceedings, and has also provided expert witness testimony in patent validity matters. The firm has been involved in interference, reissue and reexamination proceedings, has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and has submitted briefs to the United States Supreme Court.
The backgrounds and credentials of IPTL attorneys are described in "IPTL Attorneys."
IPTL’s offices are located in The Exchange at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill, 10 miles from Research Triangle Park and in close proximity to Raleigh and Durham. For directions, see "IPTL Offices."
The client base of IPTL is diverse and ranges from institutions such as the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Duke University, and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, to established corporations such as Advanced Technology Materials, Inc. and Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, to start-up and emerging technology companies such as Ardent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Netalog, Inc. IPTL’s clients represent a range of technologies in the fields of chemistry and life sciences, information technology, software and microelectonics.
IPTL is engaged in worldwide patenting and trademark registration activity, and maintains relationships with attorneys and law firms in all countries of interest to IPTL's clients. By way of example, current work includes matters in Chile, Singapore, Taiwan, Iceland, Poland, Hungary, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, South Africa, Italy, Norway, Russia, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. IPTL's relationships with counsel in other countries permit matters of foreign law to be resolved rapidly by email and fax, providing IPTL's clients with the advice and expertise necessary for global commercialization of their technologies.
IPTL attorneys are also active in professional education and publication. In 2001, members of the firm made presentations focusing on issues affecting infringement liability, and patenting of therapeutic molecules, at the "Laws of Science" program in Research Triangle Park. Mr. Hultquist is the author of the Intellectual Property chapter in the North Carolina General Practice Deskbook published by the North Carolina Bar Foundation. In 1999, Mr. Hultquist's chapter and those of two other authors were recognized by a "Project of the Year" award of the American Bar Association at the ABA's annual meeting.
IPTL is proud of its accomplishments and those of its clients. Many of our client relationships span a number of years and countless interactions. Our clients have given us the opportunity to grow personally and professionally, to exercise our accumulated knowledge and skill, and to meet their high expectations. We value them and the opportunities they have presented, and continue to present, to us.