Roy Kiesel Ford, Doody & North APLC

Intellectual property work in Louisiana

The firm has offices in Baton Rouge and Metairie. Its stated focus is intellectual property law, with work involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, licensing, and related litigation. This gives businesses and creators access to counsel for both obtaining rights and dealing with disputes over those rights.

Roy Kiesel Ford, Doody & North APLC handles patent prosecution before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and foreign patent offices. The firm also addresses trademark prosecution, copyright matters, trade secret protection, assignments, ownership questions, and licensing agreements. Its attorneys prepare infringement and validity opinions and assist with patent portfolio management.

The firm states that every attorney is registered to practice before the USPTO. Several attorneys also have engineering or science education, while one holds a professional engineering license in inactive status. In my opinion, the combination of legal and technical backgrounds is one of the clearest features of the team described on the firm's website.

How the attorney team is built

Longstanding leadership

W. David Kiesel is a founding member with more than forty years of experience in intellectual property matters. He earned his law degree at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. His work has included helping clients obtain and protect intellectual property, and he has served as an expert witness in patent infringement cases.

R. Bennett Ford Jr. is a director who joined the firm in 1995. He earned his law degree cum laude from Tulane University. His practice covers patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution, enforcement, defense, and licensing.

Prosecution, contracts, and litigation

Stephen R. Doody works on the prosecution, licensing, and litigation of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and related rights. He also prepares and enforces contracts. Doody earned his law degree from Loyola University School of Law and received academic honors that included an American Jurisprudence Award.

Brett A. North concentrates on patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution and litigation. He earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law and is registered before the USPTO. North is also an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School, where he teaches patent law and patent prosecution, and he holds an inactive professional engineer license in Texas.

Chad A. Grand is a registered patent attorney whose work covers patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. His patent practice includes prosecution, licensing, opinions, due diligence, and litigation across a range of technologies. He has represented patent owners and parties accused of infringement in jurisdictions across the United States.

Patent and portfolio services

Patent work forms a large part of the services described by the firm. The attorneys prepare and prosecute patent applications, address validity and infringement questions, manage portfolios, and handle patent disputes. The firm's work before foreign offices also gives its patent practice an international filing component.

Patent prosecution generally begins with a review of the invention, its technical features, and any known earlier technology. Counsel may then prepare claims and supporting descriptions for an application. A patent examiner reviews the filing and may issue objections or rejections that require a written response, amended claims, or further argument.

Portfolio management calls for attention to filing dates, ownership records, maintenance obligations, and the commercial purpose of each asset. Due diligence may examine whether recorded ownership is accurate, whether relevant licenses exist, and whether pending applications affect a planned transaction. These general steps help explain the firm's stated work with ownership issues, assignments, opinions, and patent portfolios.

Patent disputes and opinions

A patent dispute often turns on the wording of the claims, the features of the accused product or process, and the history of the patent application. Infringement and validity opinions examine those materials before or during a dispute. Courts may also consider technical evidence and expert testimony when the parties disagree about how a patented invention works.

The firm identifies both enforcement and defense within its intellectual property work. Its litigation experience includes matters in federal and state courts in Louisiana and elsewhere in the country. Grand's experience representing patent holders and accused infringers adds work on both sides of patent disputes.

Trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters

The firm's trademark work includes prosecution and litigation. Trademark prosecution generally involves selecting the goods or services covered by an application, checking ownership details, and responding to questions raised by a USPTO examining attorney. An application may also require evidence showing how the owner uses the mark in commerce.

Trademark enforcement examines the marks at issue, the related products or services, and how consumers encounter each name or design. Licensing agreements may set rules for use, quality control, territory, and ownership. The firm's stated work with prosecution, enforcement, defense, and licensing covers these different parts of trademark practice.

Creative works and confidential information

Copyright law applies to original works such as written material, software, images, music, and other creative content. Copyright matters may involve registration, ownership, assignments, licenses, or claims of unauthorized copying. Contracts can become central when employees, contractors, publishers, or business partners contributed to the work.

Trade secret protection concerns business information that gains value from remaining confidential. A trade secret matter may call for review of confidentiality terms, access controls, employment documents, and the circumstances of a suspected disclosure. The firm's website includes trade secrets among its practice areas, and Grand expressly lists trade secret work in his practice.

Licensing links several of the firm's stated fields. A license can define who may use a patent, trademark, copyright, or confidential material and under what conditions. Ownership terms, permitted uses, duration, enforcement rights, and termination provisions can shape the parties' duties.

What the stated record shows

The attorney biographies offer concrete information about professional roles, legal education, USPTO registration, teaching, engineering credentials, and years with the firm. Kiesel brings more than forty years of intellectual property experience, while Ford's tenure with the firm dates to 1995. North's Tulane teaching role adds an academic connection focused specifically on patent law and prosecution.

The practice descriptions connect application work with licensing, portfolio advice, opinions, and courtroom disputes. That range matters because intellectual property rights often require continuing attention after an application reaches the relevant office. Ownership changes, commercial agreements, and enforcement questions may arise during the life of a patent, trademark, or copyright.

Roy Kiesel Ford, Doody & North APLC presents a defined intellectual property practice supported by five named attorneys. The firm reports work before the USPTO, foreign offices, Louisiana courts, and courts elsewhere in the United States. Its Louisiana presence includes offices in Baton Rouge and Metairie.