Chernoff Vilhauer works with inventors to safeguard their intellectual property by securing and enforcing patents, trademarks, and copyrights. We also provide advice on related issues including trade secrets, licensing, franchising, unfair competition, and false advertising. But there's more to our law firm than that. We're told that while our attorneys are impressive professionally they're also truly down-to-earth and blessed with common sense. We take that as a huge compliment. Since our founding in 1970 when Jake Vilhauer joined Dan Chernoff, our firm's culture has been more collegial than competitive. As a group, our lawyers are just plain curious about inventions, how they work, and how they might be received in the marketplace. Clients count on us for objective, upfront opinions on patentability as well as honest advice on the costs and potential benefits of obtaining a patent and how much protection is needed based on any invention's potential value. Chernoff Vilhauer lawyers keep current with emerging technologies and frequent changes in the law. With a variety of overlapping technical backgrounds, we can assure our clients that we have the right people to be up-to-speed quickly without any lengthy (and costly) learning curves. All this helps explain why more peer-selected Best Lawyers in America® and Super Lawyers practice IP law at Chernoff Vilhauer than any other Portland firm. And not surprising, the majority of our lawyers are partners in the firm.