For over 20 years, James has provided clients with strategic intellectual property counseling and portfolio development. Having spent much of that time in-house, James gained invaluable insight into how companies develop their products and business strategies and how intellectual property protection can fit within that framework.

Prior to joining the firm, James served as general counsel of a venture-capital-backed startup in the field of additive manufacturing, responsible for both the legal and intellectual property functions. James’s in-house experience also includes nine years at a multinational energy management company where he served in several IP positions of increasing responsibility, including as Chief Patent Counsel for the Americas region. In these positions, he worked closely with research and product development teams to identify and evaluate inventions for potential patenting and manage patent prosecution.

James has developed patent portfolios in a variety of technical areas including additive manufacturing, robotics, machine vision, machine learning, medical devices, digital health, semiconductor devices, and power electronics.  In addition to drafting patent applications, he advises clients by conducting invention mining sessions, providing patent portfolio analysis of competitors, establishing corporate intellectual property policies, and performing intellectual property audits. 

James’s practice includes advising clients on trade secrets, brand management, copyright protection and open source compliance issues. He has helped clients on a broad range of commercial and intellectual property based transactions, including negotiating and drafting patent, software and technology license agreements, consulting agreements, development agreements, commercial contracts, manufacturing and supply agreements, and non-disclosure agreements. In addition, he has represented clients on a number of contested intellectual property matters including trade secret and non-competition litigation, trademark infringement, and patent infringement. 

James has been an invited speaker on issues of IP management, serving as a panelist on topics such as patent portfolio development, trade secret management, and defensive patent strategies. He has also served on the Board of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, and as the Chair of the In-House Counsel Committee of the Boston Patent Lawyers Association. In 2021, James received the distinction of Best Lawyers in America^® for his patent law expertise. James is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University and a B.A. with dual majors in Psychology and Mathematical Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University. 

Certifications

• Black Duck Certified Open Source Legal Professional

• Open Source Software Counseling
• Counseling
• Patents
• Post-Grant Proceedings
• Design Patents
• Trade Secrets
• Trademarks
• Copyrights
• IP Litigation
• Agreements
• Licensing

• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Software
• Computer Hardware
• Robotics
• Business Methods
• Internet of Things
• Network Infrastructure
• Clean Technology
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medical Devices
• Medical Imaging
• Mobile
• Optics
• Semiconductors
• Telecommunications

• The Johns Hopkins University, B.A. in Mathematical Sciences and Psychology
• Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, M.S. in Electrical Engineering
• Boston University School of Law, J.D., cum laude

Articles

• Welcome to the Jungle: Policing the Amazon Marketplace Against Brand Copycats, December 2, 2020
• Patent Portfolio Management in Uncertain Economic Times, Article Published in Bloomberg Law, June 29, 2020
• Patent Marking: Give Your Patent Some Bite Before Litigation Even Begins, New England In-House, April 25, 2006
• Making Your Mark: Using Trademarks to Build Your Brand, Inventors Digest, July/August/September 2005

IP News Alerts

• The Transition is Over: Evaluating Your Trademark and Design Portfolios in the EU and UK Now That BREXIT is Official, January 11, 2021
• United States Patent Office Finds Artificial Intelligence System Cannot Be An Inventor, April 29, 2020

• "Innovating with 3-D Printing in Medical Technology," MDG Online Forum, November 18, 2020
• "What Early Stage Startups Need to Know About Funding," MITEF Webinar, August 13, 2020
• “Managing and Growing an IP Portfolio,” High Tech and Emerging Tech Conference of the Boston Bar Association, Boston, November 2018
• “The 3 Pillars of an IP Defense Strategy,” IP Defense Summit, Boston, November 2016
• “Protecting Patents on a Budget,” IP Strategy Innovation Summit, Boston, September 2016
• “When to Trade Secret and Manage the Process,” IP Strategy Summit, Boston, May 2016

• James Coe Rejoins Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds as Counsel more

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit