Hardware & Semiconductor Patent Attorney
Hardware moves fast, and so does anyone trying to copy it. If you're building semiconductor devices, embedded systems, or robotics hardware, the patents you file now often shape what your company is worth at the next funding round or acquisition. Evergreen Valley Law Group (EVLG) works with funded technology companies and startups in San Jose, California, and Bangalore to draft and prosecute patents that hold up to that scrutiny, and to build portfolios investors and acquirers can actually rely on.
Patent Protection for Semiconductor Innovations
A semiconductor patent attorney drafts and prosecutes patent applications for chip architectures, fabrication processes, circuit designs, and the hardware systems built around them, and then represents those applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) through examination and granting.
Hardware claims carry different risks than software claims. Examiners expect a level of structural and functional detail that a generic drafting template won't produce, and enablement and written-description objections are common when a technological specification doesn't fully support what the claims cover. At EVLG, this work is handled by attorneys and technical specialists who hold advanced degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, telecommunications, and mechanical engineering, so the person drafting your claims can actually read and understand your schematics.
When Hardware and Semiconductor Companies Need Patent Counsel
A few situations tend to bring hardware and semiconductor companies to a patent attorney for the first time, or back to one after a gap:​
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Before disclosing a product’s architecture to investors, prospective customers, or a manufacturing partner
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Ahead of a priced funding round, when IP defensibility becomes part of due diligence
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When a product nears tape-out or manufacturing, but a competitor's patent could block a launch
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When an engineering team is generating inventions faster than the company has a process to capture them
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When R&D or manufacturing is split between the U.S. and India, and filings need to be coordinated across both places
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What Our Semiconductor & Hardware Patent Work Covers
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Patent Drafting & Prosecution for Chip and Device Architectures
We draft and prosecute applications covering semiconductor devices, circuit designs, and fabrication processes, and manage the full USPTO examination process, including office action responses and examiner interviews, with the goal of the strongest protection possible that the prior art will support.
02.
Robotics, Embedded Systems & AI Infrastructure
EVLG’s Managing Shareholder, Kanika Radhakrishnan, works directly with AI and hardware companies on questions the field is still resolving: what's patentable in a model-based product; how training-data provenance and open-weight boundaries affect defensibility; and what a Board needs in order to exercise credible oversight while AI regulation keeps changing. That perspective carries into our drafting work for robotics and embedded systems, where hardware and algorithmic claims often need to be built together.
03.
Patent Landscape Studies & Competitive Intelligence
For companies deciding where to invest R&D or how to position against competitors, we build patent landscape studies that map pending and granted patents in a given field, and competitive intelligence reports that track what similar companies are filing, sometimes years before a product is announced.
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Freedom-to-Operate & Non-Infringement Opinions
Before a product ships or a chip goes to fabrication, a freedom-to-operate review evaluates whether the design risks infringing upon existing patents, and a non-infringement opinion documents the analysis behind a decision to proceed.
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Fractional IP Counsel for Growing Teams
Many funded startups aren't ready to hire in-house IP counsel but still need more than one-off drafting help. EVLG's fractional IP counsel model gives a hardware or semiconductor company ongoing access to senior patent strategy, including invention capture, portfolio planning, and board-level IP updates scaled to your company's stage and budget.
Common Challenges for Hardware and Semiconductor Innovators
Hardware patent work comes with a few recurring considerations that are worth planning for early:​
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Enablement and written-description standards are applied strictly to hardware claims, which means a specification needs real structural detail, not just a description of the end result.
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Subject-matter eligibility questions come up often for hardware tied closely to an algorithm or AI model, and claim strategy needs to account for that, starting from the first draft.
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Fabrication and product cycles frequently move faster than patent prosecution timelines this is where a provisional filing strategy matters.
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Coordinating prior art searches and filings across U.S. and Indian teams takes deliberate process, not just a shared inbox.
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Patent spend must be weighed against runway, which is part of why some startups choose fractional counsel over building an in-house function too early.
Industries We Work With
EVLG's fractional IP counsel clients are concentrated in technical sectors where patent strategy is inseparable from product strategy: semiconductor and chip design, photonics, AI infrastructure and AI-enabled products, robotics, defense technology, and electric vehicle technology. If your company sits in one of these areas, the EVLG attorney advising you already understands the technology behind your product, not just the filing process.
How EVLG Helps Semiconductor and Hardware Companies
EVLG is led by Kanika Radhakrishnan, a Harvard-trained patent attorney, founder, and Managing Shareholder. She is also an active startup investor who has backed more than 25 early-stage deep tech companies across the U.S., India, and Europe. Before founding EVLG, Kanika was a patent litigator at Morrison & Foerster. She has overseen more than 5,000 patent filings with an 87% grant rate, and the portfolios she has advised on have contributed to more than $1.1 billion in combined exit value, with intellectual property accounting for roughly 40-50% of deal value in those transactions.
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This combination of drafting, litigation, and investor experience shapes how we advise hardware and semiconductor clients: we look not just at what's patentable, but what a portfolio needs to look like to hold up in diligence or during an acquisition.
Our technical team includes attorneys and specialists with advanced degrees in computer science, information technology, telecommunications, software development, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Our client base spans semiconductor and technology companies including Texas Instruments, NXP, Oracle, Adobe, Yahoo, and Philips, alongside startups, universities, and individual inventors.
EVLG operates from two offices built around this work: our San Jose, California, headquarters handles U.S. patent drafting, prosecution, and USPTO filings, while our Bangalore office focuses on prior art searches, competitive intelligence, and Indian patent and trademark filings. For companies with engineering or manufacturing ties to both markets, this means one firm manages both sides of their filing strategy.
Our Process
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Invention disclosure and technical review with an experienced attorney who understands the underlying hardware
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Prior art and landscape search, drawing on our Bangalore office for broader coverage
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Claim strategy and drafting
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Patent filing and USPTO prosecution, including office action responses and examiner interviews
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Portfolio management aligned to funding milestones or acquisition diligence
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Ongoing counsel, either fractional or project-based, as your company and its filing needs grow
