This section of the website contains information about the firm and the background of its founder.

To learn more about the things that every client should know and understand about “intellectual property” (i.e., patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets), see the section of this website entitled “Intellectual Property Essentials.” To learn more about the specific services the firm provides, see the section of this website entitled “Legal Services.” To learn more about how to go about finding the right attorney for you, see the section of this website entitled “Working with Attorneys.”

The Founder: Paul W. Fulbright

Firm philosophy

The cornerstones of the firm’s philosophy towards its clients can be summarized as follows:

The highest quality legal service results from close engagement with the client. If you view patent, trademark and copyright applications as “commodity” legal deliverables, to be prepared based upon minimal communication between the company’s inventors and business executives and its patent attorney, then our firm is most definitely not the firm for you. Our view of these filings is that they represent the company’s greatest asset and that they must therefore be carefully prepared with an eye towards the company’s long-term goals, its tactical product plans, the offerings of its competitors, the potential for licensing and litigation, and other factors.

A fully informed client is a good client. Intellectual property law has been described as one of the most complex areas of the law for several reasons. First, applying our laws relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights and the like to real-world problems involves marshaling and analyzing an enormous amount of complex business, technical, and legal information. Second, this area of law invariably involves resolving numerous disparate interests (e.g., the client’s, the adversary’s, and the public’s).

Notwithstanding this complexity, the business sector of the American economy continues as always in constant motion. And, today, in fact, in the age of the internet, the pace of that motion (and the pace of change) has continued to increase. The old rules of competition were: be first, be big. The new rules of competition are: be smart, be fast.

A key component of “being smart” is understanding intellectual property. And developing a comprehensive understanding of intellectual property won’t occur in a single telephone call or conference. Rather, it occurs as a result of a trusting relationship in which, over a sustained period of time, the client commits to learning more and more about how our laws relating to intellectual property actually work and how they can be used effectively in competition. If you’re looking for an intellectual property attorney who will literally become a long-term “member of the team,” then we’re definitely a firm you should consider.

Never overlook the importance of temperament. Just as no two personalities are the same, no two lawyers practice law in precisely the same way. And a critical component of finding the right lawyer for you is identifying not only an attorney who has the skills, experience, background, and billing rate that suits your needs, but, in addition, locating one who speaks your language. For example, some clients view the art of business as a form of warfare; others view it as a form of communication and negotiation. A sampling of lawyers would reveal a similar variation in views, and the very best matches occur when clients and lawyers sharing similar views of the world connect.

Because our firm is well-qualified to satisfy your intellectual property legal needs, and because new clients are the lifeblood of any business, we of course look forward to meeting new potential clients. However, unless all of the factors described above, including temperament, demonstrate a match, we’ll politely decline the invitation to serve and instead refer you to one of the other fine intellectual property attorneys we know in your area. We do this because clients need lawyers who speak their language, and vice versa, and helping you to find the right lawyer for you (even if he’s not at our firm) is the best way we know of to build long-term goodwill in our community. Simply stated, we believe that taking care of the client (even when it doesn’t directly favor our financial interest in the short-run) is the best way to continue to strengthen our reputation in the long-run.

We hope you find the information above enlightening regarding our approach to intellectual property practice. If you’d like to learn more about our style of practice, please don’t hesitate to call.