Intellectual Property Consulting

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Preparing for Exponential Growth in AI Patent Litigation

Objective Science Behind Every Technical Position

In patent, copyright, trade secret, and licensing disputes, outcomes often rest on technical questions only thorough scientific and engineering analysis can resolve. Exponent enables you to understand the underlying science and engineering before testimony begins, uncovering and evaluating the technical facts that shape high-stakes IP matters. Our scientists and engineers analyze complex technologies, assess competing technical claims, and deliver rigorous, objective evidence and analysis that endures intense challenges from opposing experts, giving judges, juries, arbitrators, and other finders of fact the technical clarity they need to make informed decisions.

Collaborative Teams. Multidisciplinary Expertise.

Complex IP disputes rarely stay within a single discipline. A matter can require source code review, semiconductor analysis, mechanical engineering, and materials science simultaneously. Exponent offers a unique, one-stop shop, with consultants spanning software, electrical engineering, semiconductors, mechanical engineering, materials science, batteries, chemistry, biopharmaceuticals, biomechanics, vehicle engineering, human factors, health sciences, and data sciences. Whether evaluating source code, reverse engineering consumer products and medical devices, analyzing technical documents, or assessing prior art, our teams seamlessly bring this specialized expertise together to resolve your most critical technical questions.

Investigations Built to Match the Scale of What's at Stake

High-stakes IP disputes can involve millions of lines of code, thousands of documents, complex computer-aided design files, or entire product lines requiring teardowns and testing — volume that overwhelms single-expert approaches. Exponent combines specialized laboratories, cutting-edge analytical instrumentation — including advanced X-ray computed tomography (CT), mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB) techniques, and optical microscopy — with multidisciplinary teams to investigate issues at scale. From early case assessment through expert reports, depositions, and trial testimony, we help you develop clear, defensible conclusions rooted in scientific rigor for matters before federal and state courts, arbitration panels, and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Capabilities

A single misconstrued claim term or an overlooked prior art reference can determine whether a patent stands or falls. Exponent's scientists and engineers reverse engineer accused products, analyze source code, run physical and computational testing, and deconstruct prior art to determine whether claim limitations are actually met — providing the technical foundation for infringement, validity, prior art investigations, and apportionment analyses, and presenting our findings through expert reports, depositions, and courtroom testimony.
Misappropriation is a legal determination that benefits from technical analysis to help distinguish genuine theft from independent invention or legitimate competition. The same technical analysis also helps distinguish genuine secrets from publicly known information. These distinctions are strengthened by rigorous technical analysis based on deep subject-specific experience and expertise. We also evaluate whether reasonable measures were taken to protect proprietary information, analyzing identity management, data loss prevention techniques, and technical access controls to determine whether reasonable security safeguards were maintained.
Our multidisciplinary teams support attorneys and clients across industries with rigorous testing and analysis in disputes involving confidential processes, designs, software, formulas, and technical information. Through advanced investigative techniques and forensic analysis, we help uncover evidence, evaluate claims, support discovery, and deliver objective technical opinions.
Copyright allegations can hinge on the discovery of literal copying or on similarities in non-literal elements of software, such as organization of modules that may not be clear without deep technical investigations. Exponent supports copyright matters involving software, source code, algorithms, user interfaces, and digital technologies. Our consultants analyze source code, software organization, and technical functionality to evaluate allegations of copying while providing objective technical support throughout litigation.
Licensing disputes frequently pivot on technical contract terms: What was licensed? Was it implemented as agreed? Exponent's scientists and engineers evaluate the engineering realities behind disputed terms — testing accused products against technical specifications, assessing cybersecurity and access controls, and analyzing whether royalty calculations reflect the technology's actual contribution. We assist attorneys and industry clients in resolving complex disputes over technology licensing agreements, royalty obligations, technical contract interpretation, cybersecurity controls, and the implementation of licensed technologies.
Consumer perception can be subjective, but small differences in design and packaging can carry outsized legal weight. Drawing on expertise in human factors, consumer behavior, and data sciences, Exponent helps you evaluate how design and packaging influence consumer perception and choices — assessing the underlying engineering to establish whether a product's appearance is governed by functional utility.
Section 337 investigations move on compressed timelines and can bar products from the U.S. market entirely, leaving little room for error. In these investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission, Exponent has the unique ability to provide physical analysis (e.g., teardowns or examinations) and software source code review of extensive product lines on short timescales to support rigorous technical analysis, expert reports, and testimony related to infringement, validity, domestic industry requirements, and other technical issues.
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Misjudging the technical value of an IP asset can derail a deal or weaken a client's position in litigation. In mergers, acquisitions, and IP disputes, Exponent's technical consultants help you better understand the value of intellectual property assets through technical due diligence involving software, electronics, consumer products, life sciences technologies, chemicals, batteries, energy storage systems, medical devices, and more.
Entering a market without a clear view of the competitive IP landscape can expose a company to costly infringement risk it never saw coming. Exponent's scientists and engineers benchmark competitive technologies through product teardowns, technical testing, and patent claim comparisons, giving you a clear, evidence-based view of the intellectual property landscape, potential infringement risks, and the technical realities shaping innovation and product development strategy.

Generate evidence that stands up to scrutiny

Advanced testing, imaging, reverse engineering, and software analysis capabilities help establish technical facts for intellectual property matters.

IP INVESTIGATION LAB SERVICES

CT Scanning & Analysis

Non-Destructive Imaging

Reverse Engineering

Product Teardowns

Semiconductor Analysis

Source Code Review

Mechanical Evaluations

Electrical Evaluations

Battery Investigations

Materials Characterization & Testing

Our Capabilities Are Unparalleled

With deep expertise across software, electronics, semiconductors, materials, chemistry, batteries, automotive, and life sciences, Exponent helps you navigate complex IP challenges — from patent and trade secret litigation to licensing disputes and ITC investigations — delivering bespoke testing and investigations and defensible scientific evidence.

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Mechanical Engineering Intellectual Property Consulting

Mechanical engineering expertise for cases of intellectual property disputes.

Intellectual Property: Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights & Trade Secrets [MCE]

Intellectual Property & Materials

Rigorous technical support for high-stakes decisions on intellectual property claims related to materials.

Polymers & Chemistry IP Consulting

Exponent offers expert, bespoke intellectual property consulting services and support for polymers and materials chemistry.

A mechanized hip. Exponent consults on the safety, performance and intellectual property rights of medical devices and surgical implants.

Medical Device IP Consulting

Specializing in intellectual property consulting for medical device manufacturing companies.

Worker evaluating a computer chip. Exponent provides technical support for copyright, infringement, and intellectual property.

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Expertise for Intellectual Property

Leverage best-in-class electrical engineering and computer science consulting for IP challenges

Battery Intellectual Property & Trade Secrets

Exponent advises clients on issues of intellectual property and trade secrets.

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International Dispute Resolution

Clear Answers for Complex Global Disputes

Exponent's international dispute resolution experts provide clients with everything necessary to navigate tough, intricate technical disputes in legal forums around the world. Our engineering insights are coupled with a unique ability to convey information clearly for lay audiences — and nowhere else will you find the depth and breadth of multidisciplinary expertise required to seamlessly answer questions involving complex machinery, systems, and construction projects across multiple industries.

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REVERSE ENGINEERING

Rigorous Analysis for IP Disputes

Our multidisciplinary experts deconstruct complex hardware and software to provide the objective technical evidence required in high-stakes intellectual property disputes. Combining advanced circuit tracing, materials analysis, X-ray and CT scanning, and software disassembly, we uncover product and component design and functionality to bring scientific clarity to IP challenges.

Non-Destructive Clarity for IP Disputes

Our teams leverage advanced computed tomography (CT) to evaluate complex assemblies and internal features without altering critical physical evidence. Combining high-resolution 3D imaging, precise CAD-to-part comparisons, and state-of-the-art visualization software, we uncover hidden design elements and create compelling visual demonstratives to communicate complex intellectual property findings to judges and juries.

Related Expertise

Material Science & Electrochemistry

Human Factors

Data Sciences

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Metallurgical & Corrosion Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Polymers & Chemistry

Vehicle Engineering

RELEVANT RIGHT NOW

How do software disputes distinguish protectable architecture from non-protectable elements?

Determining software copyright infringement requires isolating protectable expression from functional constraints, standard industry conventions, and third-party code. Computer scientists conduct deep, systematic source code comparisons, structural teardowns, and static analysis.

By evaluating abstraction, filtration, and comparison factors, technical experts determine actual code similarity versus independent development. Translating complex code structures into clear, objective evidence helps demonstrate precisely which software elements are legally protectable expression.

How do technical evaluations prove trade secret theft involving proprietary AI models and architectures?

AI trade secret disputes can involve technical aspects of software that have not been made publicly available such as model weights, proprietary data pipeline and processing techniques used for training models, proprietary datasets, specialized knowledge and logic models embedded within AI systems, and specialized input/output systems including computer vision and motor control hardware and software. Machine learning and artificial intelligence experts conduct model parameter comparisons, source code and software comparisons, model testing, and technical documentation review to uncover potential trade secrets theft.

How do IP disputes establish whether AI-generated code violates third-party copyrights or licenses?

The adoption of AI coding assistants can introduce risks of unintended code reproduction and potential copyright infringement. Analysis of potential copying proceeds as usual for source code, where literal or non-literal copying can occur. Our computer scientists can compare known code patterns and idioms, perform automated line-by-line analysis, syntax matching, string matching, and evaluation of higher-level structures in code to help determine source code origins.

Experts

Our global and comprehensive expertise across industries gives us a deep understanding of current challenges, best industry practices, and the implications of emerging technologies.