Patent and Trademark Prosecution
A registered patent attorney, more than 10,000 hours in trademark law, and a firm established in 2011. Every matter starts with a free consultation. Where a portfolio has outgrown whatever is tracking it, the next step is an IP Portfolio 360 Review: every patent, application, mark, registration, copyright, and unprotected asset on a single page, with the gaps named and the deadlines calendared.
The Flagship Engagement
A registered patent attorney reads the whole estate at once, instead of answering one question at a time. Four quadrants, one written report, one calendar.
Issued patents, pending applications, provisional clocks about to run, claim scope against the products actually shipping, and inventions sitting undisclosed in the engineering queue.
Registrations, pending applications, common law use not yet filed, class coverage against the real goods and services, and marks in use that nobody ever cleared.
Registrable works, authorship and work made for hire chains, and the material that should stay unregistered and controlled instead.
Assignments recorded and unrecorded, founder and contractor transfers that were never papered, and whether the entity on the filing is the entity that owns the asset.
The review is a separate engagement, booked on its own and billed as an hour of attorney time at $450. Not every matter needs one. Start with the free consult and you will be told whether yours does.
What follows the review
The 360 Review tells you what you own and what is missing. For companies generating inventions and brands faster than they file on them, this is the engagement that acts on it month after month. Senior intellectual property leadership on a recurring basis, taken fractionally where a full time hire is more than the portfolio needs.
We are accepting new Chief IP Officer and Fractional Chief IP Officer engagements for Quarter 2, 2027.
A standing intake for engineering and product. What gets filed, what gets held as trade secret, what gets published to block a competitor, and what gets let go, decided monthly instead of whenever someone remembers.
The estate managed as one asset against the product roadmap and the competitive field, with the year of deadlines and fees costed in advance so finance sees it coming.
The IP schedule, the chain of title, and the answers an acquirer or an investor will ask for, kept current rather than assembled under deadline.
Scoped to a quarterly to annual commitment agreed in writing and budgeted in advance.
Practice
Provisional and nonprovisional utility applications, design applications for ornamental appearance, claim drafting written to the mechanics of the invention rather than to its marketing, and response to rejections under Sections 101, 102, 103, and 112.
35 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.Claim architecture for software and machine learning inventions written against the two step framework of Alice and Mayo, with the technical improvement stated on the face of the specification. Includes companies using AI to develop new medicines, materials, and methods.
Subject matter eligibilityEx parte appeal from a final rejection, appeal and reply briefs, oral hearing, and request for rehearing before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when the examiner will not be moved.
Patent Trial and Appeal BoardKnockout and full availability searching, likelihood of confusion analysis under the DuPont factors, then use based and intent to use applications under Sections 1(a) and 1(b), identification and class drafting, specimen selection, and statements of use.
15 U.S.C. § 1051Substantive responses to Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusals, mere descriptiveness, genericness, and specimen and identification objections, with ex parte appeal to the Board when the examining attorney will not move.
TMEP practiceNotices of opposition, petitions to cancel, answers and affirmative defenses, discovery, summary judgment, and trial briefing before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
TBMP practiceMaintenance fees on issued patents, Section 8 declarations of continued use, Section 15 declarations of incontestability, and renewals, plus watch review, cease and desist correspondence, and platform takedowns to keep the registration worth holding.
Statutory windowsMadrid Protocol extensions, Paris Convention priority, and PCT international applications, coordinated with foreign associates in the jurisdictions where the goods actually move.
Madrid and PCTThe practice is strictly federal intellectual property before the USPTO, the PTAB, and the TTAB. It does not handle state court litigation, corporate formations, or contract disputes. When a matter belongs somewhere else, you will be told that in the first consultation rather than after a retainer is posted, and referred into a network of boutique specialty firms that do it every day.
The firm also serves as Of Counsel to general practice and litigation firms that need a registered practitioner on the signature block, and conducts consultations and inventor interviews in Spanish.
Clients
I was pretty nervous about doing my first trademark by myself. Jack came recommended by quite a few friends, and has been really great from start to finish with both my trademark application and also in negotiating when an opposition came up. I set up a free consultation via his website. He listened to my situation and then presented me with all my options, as well as emailing me a follow up of everything we talked about, which was really helpful.
When I originally tried to file a trademark for my company, I thought I could handle it without too much effort. But as the process continued I kept being hit by more and more questions which I did not know how to answer properly. It was at this point that I enlisted Jack Fritz to assist me. He attacked every issue immediately, with the confidence, grace, and professionalism that the matters required.
Jack Fritz was awesome! I had a very positive experience with Jack. He helped me with our trademark and successfully got our trademark approved. It was a long road but through it all, Jack provided many ways of combating our initial disapproval from the USPTO due to the fact that our word mark was "similar and may lead to confusion" (which it was obviously not!). I couldn't have gotten better service or won our trademark with someone else. Great work Jack!
My boyfriend needed some patent advice regarding a creative project and Jack Fritz was extremely helpful. They set up a phone call, where Jack explained what would be allowable for use and what to be careful of. It brought great peace of mind to my boyfriend (and me) -- also knowing that great customer service is still alive and well. Jack also kindly recapped their conversation in an email, which was the icing on the cake.
There's a reason Jack has such high ratings on Yelp from everyone! All you have to do is have a phone conversation with him and you will be wowed! Simply put, the best experience talking to a lawyer ever. Jack is super knowledgeable in his area of expertise, has lots of useful information he can share with you on the spot, and he's also nice to talk to. Basically a completely different experience after talking to many different lawyers before.
I couldn't be more happy working with Jack and his team on my trademark endeavors. I was impressed from the start with the easy of scheduling time to speak with him and all the prep work he invested prior to engaging his services. After his team conducted a thorough search on my intended trademark, Jack recommended we move forward with the name.
Reviews published on Yelp, where the firm holds 4.9 out of 5. See all 63. Client reviews describe past matters. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Attorney
Founder. Registered patent attorney, trademark practitioner, and Chief IP Officer to companies that engage the role fractionally.
Jack founded the firm in 2011 and practiced in Pasadena for twelve years before relocating the office to Austin. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Southwestern Law School, with a term of study at University College London. He is admitted in California and the District of Columbia, registered to practice before the USPTO, and certified as an Engineer in Training by the California Board of Engineers.
He has logged more than ten thousand hours in trademark practice. He works in English and Spanish. He is fueled by the passion of a founder describing, for the first time, an invention that could prove historically significant. He races triathlons, but moves at light speed when a client needs immediate help.
Every number above is verifiable in the public register of the issuing authority. Ask for it at the consultation and you will be walked to the page.
Process
This is the only intake path. A scheduled call where both sides are prepared is worth more than a week of voicemail tag. Most matters go straight from there to filing; a portfolio that has outgrown whatever is tracking it gets scoped with a 360 Review first.
You leave with a written scope and estimate covering attorney time and the separate government fees. If the matter belongs with another kind of lawyer, you are told so on that call. A representation agreement and an initial retainer then open the file.
Filing, examination, office action response, appeal where it is warranted, and publication, with the file docketed through allowance. Maintenance deadlines stay on the firm calendar afterward.
Fees
| Attorney Services | Cost for Services (mean) | Government filing fees, lowest tier |
|---|---|---|
| Trademark, up to filing | $1,250 | $350/class (base fee) |
| Trademark, after filing | $450 to $900 | $150+ (amendments) |
| Copyright | $1,250 | $65 |
| Utility patent, up to filing | ~$5,000 | $400+ |
| Utility patent, after filing | $3,000 to $5,000 | |
| Provisional patent | ~$2,000 | $65 (micro entity) |
Work is billed against an initial retainer, scoped and quoted in writing at the consult. Government filing fees move with the class count, the entity size, the filing basis, and the fee schedule in force on the day of filing. Foreign associate charges on Madrid and PCT matters are passed through at cost.
Questions
Contact
Central Time, Austin
