Where We Excel

In today’s rapidly changing, interconnected marketplace, companies must stay ahead of the curve to protect their competitive edge. To protect clients’ intellectual property assets, Vinson & Elkins’ Intellectual Property Counseling practice assesses and analyzes clients’ technologies and their intellectual property portfolios to identify both opportunities and roadblocks. We work closely with clients to develop a comprehensive strategy to maximize intellectual property protection, minimize the risk of intellectual property litigation, and help implement licensing strategies, always with the clients’ business goals at the forefront.

V&E lawyers provide advice and guidance on obtaining foreign and domestic patent rights, trademark rights, and copyrights. We also help clients navigate inbound and outbound licensing campaigns, and related technology transfers. And clients turn to us to assess potential intellectual property issues, to evaluate options for either avoiding expensive litigation or advantageously positioning the client in the event litigation occurs. We also provide our clients, where appropriate, with freedom-to-operate, non-infringement, and invalidity opinions.

Our team has extensive experience in a variety of industries, including computers, software, wireless communications, oil and gas, media, sports, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, food and agriculture, consumer products, aerospace, and clean energy. This experience across a range of industries allows us to offer valuable and unique insight into intellectual property counseling matters.

Experience

  • Major sports leagues in drafting and negotiating technology agreements across from vendors such as Oracle, NextVR and Akamai in matters involving use of open source software, data services, streaming media, tracking systems, and other digital technologies 

  • LiveOak Venture Partners in  intellectual property efforts related to its Series A financing of CS Disco, a legal technology company that provides e-discovery software 

  • Represented a corporation in connection with negotiation of primary license agreement with university for all intellectual property rights regarding carbon nanotechnology

  • Drafted non-infringement opinion, as clearance due diligence for a polymer manufacturer

  • Represented a major oil company with respect to all intellectual property matters in $3.6 billion transaction to acquire oil and gas properties dependent upon use of CO2 technology, including negotiating a license agreement of intellectual property rights related to CO2 technology

  • A food company with respect to intellectual property in the $110 million acquisition of food brands in Mexico

  • An energy trading company in intellectual property efforts related to the sale of the business reportedly valued at nearly $1 billion, including a complex system of owned and licensed software programs

  • Cable network in counseling regarding use of open source software in streaming technology, including development of open source software policies

  • Aviation company in exclusive licensing of SMS customer service software

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At Vinson & Elkins, we bring decades of knowledge, skill, and experience to our clients’ most complex legal matters.

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Events

Protecting Innovation: A Governance Framework for Intellectual Property

On July 23, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. ET, Eric Klein and Steve Moore will be presenting a PLI one-hour briefing …

July 23, 2026

July 23, 2026 • 1-minute read

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Podcasts

Powering Progress Episode 9 – Protecting the Advantage

As AI and data center development continue to accelerate, much of the conversation has focused on power, infrastructure, financing, and …

June 24, 2026

June 24, 2026 • 6-minute read

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Articles

Data Center Boom Brings New Patent Risk for Owners

With more than 4,000 data centers currently operating in the U.S. and nearly a trillion dollars in U.S. capital investment …

May 27, 2026

May 27, 2026 • 1-minute read

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Articles

Innovation Governance: 5 Strategies to Mitigate Intellectual Property Risks

Innovative companies stand out from their competitors, attracting talent and investment, boosting revenue and margins, earning new customers and deep …

February 2, 2026

February 2, 2026 • 2-minute read

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Client Alerts

File Early or Risk Denial: iRhythm IPR Institution Denial Underscores the Importance of Filing IPR Petitions Sooner Rather Than Later

On June 6, 2025, the Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), Coke Morgan Stewart, issued a decision denying institution of five inter partes review (“IPR”) petitions filed by iRhythm, Inc. against patents held by Welch Allyn, Inc.

June 17, 2025 • V&E Intellectual Property Update Published in the September/October 2025 issue of IP Litigator

June 17, 2025 • 4-minute read

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Client Alerts

Build Once, Comply Twice: The EU AI Act’s Next Phase is Around the Corner

The European Union has kicked off a new era of AI regulation. With the Artificial Intelligence Act (“the Act”), which went into force on August 1, 2024, the EU has established the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence.

June 13, 2025

June 13, 2025 • 8-minute read

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Client Alerts

Federal Circuit Defines Scope of IPR Estoppel

In Ingenico Inc. v. IOENGINE, LLC, the Federal Circuit defined for the first time the scope of inter partes review (“IPR”) estoppel in district court and International Trade Commission (ITC) proceedings: IPR estoppel applies only to invalidity arguments that the claimed invention was described in a patent or printed publication before the critical date.

May 12, 2025 • V&E Intellectual Property Update Published by Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, August 2025

May 12, 2025 • 6-minute read

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