Adam P. Slepecky

Adam works closely with clients to secure, protect and enforce intellectual property rights, strengthen their intellectual property positions for product lines, and build the overall value of their portfolio. Adam works with clients to customize intellectual property plans to meet each client’s unique needs and business goals.  

Adam manages both large and small worldwide patent portfolios for publicly and privately held businesses, institutional clients, and individuals. He often counsels clients with respect to patentability, due diligence, patent portfolio analyses, and clearance matters, including patent validity and infringement concerns and opinions. 

In addition, he counsels clients with respect to intellectual property transactions particularly as it relates to joint research and development collaborations, intellectual property acquisitions, and licensing arrangements.

Adam works with clients to prepare and prosecute patent applications on a wide variety of innovations in industrial and consumer products, including coating technologies, polymers, composites, insulation, construction materials, oil and gas technologies, and metallurgical and nutritional products. He also counsels clients on trademark procurement, as well as managing and maintaining trademark portfolios. 

Adam has been a featured speaker at Ohio LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) Alliance events, speaking to scholars on topics related to patent law and how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) backgrounds can lead to careers in law. The Ohio LSAMP program aims to diversify the STEM workforce by helping universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the number of students enrolling into and successfully completing degree programs in STEM disciplines.

Adam has also taken an active interest in the development of law students and new lawyers, participating as a mentor in the Ohio Lawyer to Lawyer mentoring program, as well as the LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program. He serves as a member of Calfee's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.

His prior professional experience includes serving as an information technology consultant at Accenture Ltd. from 2002 through 2005 focusing on application and transaction infrastructure software and enterprise resource planning software.

Prior to joining Calfee, Adam served as an associate attorney with Turocy & Watson, LLP in Cleveland, Ohio. Adam joined Calfee in 2009. 

Education

J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 2008

M.S., Economics, Lehigh University, 2001

B.S., Chemical Engineering, with honors, Lehigh University, 2000

Experience

• Serving as primary IP counsel for a publicly traded, Fortune 500, global manufacturing client and its operating companies with responsibility for the client's worldwide IP portfolio, including 1,000+ patent matters and 2,000+ trademark matters. With regard to clearance, Calfee provides right-to-use and non-infringement analyses and opinions. With regard to procurement, we provide patentability and registrability analyses and opinions. We also prepare, file, and prosecute patent and trademark applications. Calfee assists in all IP litigation the operating companies are involved in.
• Managing a publicly traded, Fortune 1000, multinational manufacturer's global trademark portfolio, including filing and prosecution, portfolio management, enforcement, and disputes. Calfee advises the client in patent preparation and prosecution matters, including strategy and filings. Calfee advises on patent enforcement matters, which are currently in pre-litigation investigation, including developing infringement analysis to stop infringement in markets with high-revenue product lines. Calfee also assists the client with a variety of other intellectual property counseling matters, including patent opinions, IP-related terms in agreements, cross-border enforcement, IP licensing, IP acquisition (particularly in China), and advising on best practices for protecting and harvesting intellectual property.
• Drafting and prosecuting the client’s patent applications and assisting in patent portfolio development and research collaborations with academia for a multi-billion-dollar, international manufacturer. Calfee handles domestic and foreign patent litigation, patent prosecution, and IP strategy for the client, and we also provide management and strategy services for its patent and trademark portfolios and advise on IP strategy.
• Serving as chief outside IP counsel for a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded, Fortune 1000, multinational holding company with multiple operating companies based in the U.S. and abroad. Calfee is responsible for all patent matters and assists many of the operating companies with the prosecution of patent applications, both in the U.S. and internationally. Calfee manages the U.S. trademark and patent work directly and supervises a network of foreign associates when action is required in foreign jurisdictions. Calfee also offers primary counsel on the impact of corporate reorganization efforts on the ownership and management of the IP of the operating companies. Calfee IP lawyers supervise most of the intellectual property due diligence related to the mergers and acquisition activity of the client. Calfee represents the company in several trade secret matters and other IP litigation matters.
• Managing the entire IP portfolio for a natural resources company with facilities across North America, including their patent and trademark portfolios. This includes preparing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications both in the U.S. and internationally, counseling and advising on patent and trademark strategy, including patent and trademark clearance analyses, patentability, agreements, and licensing, as well as competitor portfolio analysis. In 2023, Calfee handled domestic and international patent portfolios in 11 countries, the PCT, and the Madrid Protocol.