MBHB Launches Quantum and Semiconductor IP Practice

Insider Brief

• McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP (MBHB) has launched a Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductors Practice Group to advise companies and research institutions on intellectual property protection.
• Led by partners Andrew Velzen and Aaron Gin, the group will provide patent preparation and prosecution, portfolio management, licensing and litigation services, drawing on the team’s technical backgrounds in fields including electromagnetics, optics and nanotechnology.
• The practice will serve startups, universities, research institutions, government contractors and large companies as quantum, optics and semiconductor research expands across the United States.

PRESS RELEASE — Full-service intellectual property law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP (MBHB) has launched a Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductors Practice Group. The team of attorneys and patent agents, which includes former nanotechnology, electromagnetics, and optics researchers, will help innovators secure patents, assemble patent portfolios, and enforce their intellectual property rights.

“Federal funding is accelerating quantum research, and AI is driving rapid innovation in optics and semiconductors,” said MBHB Partner Andrew Velzen, Co-Chair of the Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductors Practice Group. “Inventors in these highly competitive industries need to proactively protect their intellectual property with technically precise patent portfolios that stand up to scrutiny. The IP decisions these organizations make today will have a long-lasting impact on their business success.”

The practice group counsels startups, universities, research institutions, government contractors, and Fortune 100 companies on patent preparation and prosecution, patent portfolio management and strategy, licensing, and litigation. It also advises clients on joint development and research agreements, helping protect IP rights when universities, companies, and government entities collaborate.

The team is led by Velzen and MBHB Partner Aaron Gin, Ph.D. Velzen earned a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University. He conducted graduate research in electromagnetics, optics, and nanophotonics before joining MBHB. Gin, who holds a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Northwestern University, was a senior member of the technical staff performing research at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and Sandia National Laboratories before becoming an attorney.

“I’ve been on the inventor’s side of a patent application, so I understand how often an invention’s value is revealed in the nuanced details of how a material is developed or a device is built,” Gin said. “Because the fields in this practice group share so much underlying technology, having a multidisciplinary team can help clients see where their innovations fit in the larger ecosystem and build intellectual property portfolios that protect them.”

The Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductor Practice Group strengthens MBHB’s 30-year legacy of supporting innovation in cutting-edge industries. With dedicated teams spanning artificial intelligence, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, software and computing, and more, MBHB’s attorneys and patent agents help shape the IP strategies of companies and research institutions at the forefront of innovation.

Further, MBHB is based in Chicago, a growing hub for quantum innovation. The city is home to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. The state of Illinois has committed $500 million over five years to the campus, where PsiQuantum is the anchor tenant and IBM and other companies are joining.

“As a proud Chicago firm, we are excited to see how the city is supporting quantum innovation,” Velzen said. “We are well-positioned to support clients that are part of the growing quantum industry in the city as well as clients in the quantum, optics, and semiconductor industries across the United States.”