Overview

Innovators in the agricultural sector face a host of challenges, from increased raw material costs to competition at home and abroad. McKee, Voorhees & Sease helps manufacturers protect and defend their agritech discoveries, paving the way to increased yield, efficiency, and profitability.

Our team offers a full range of IP services, including advising on long-term business strategy and risk management, conducting due diligence, prosecuting and enforcing patents, facilitating licensing opportunities, guiding inventions to market, and protecting brands through trademark registrations. We also employ a team dedicated exclusively to foreign patent filings, resulting in a high volume of successful patents filed in over 160 countries. Manufacturers and large companies with international sales benefit from the time and effort we invest in our client relationships, which often span several decades.

The firm’s record of success in this sector stems from our deep-rooted connection to Midwest agriculture. Many of our lawyers were raised in rural farming communities and earned engineering and science degrees from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and Creighton University, giving us firsthand knowledge of pressing agricultural issues. We couple that insight with avid participation in the industry – from regularly attending trade shows to mentoring startups through the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator program – to provide our clients with proactive, informed counsel.

Services include:

• Patentability search and opinions
• Freedom-to-operate analysis and opinions
• Due diligence for mergers and acquisitions
• Portfolio planning
• Invention disclosure vetting and analysis
• Patent procurement in U.S. and foreign jurisdictions
• Competitive landscape audit
• License agreement drafting and negotiation
• Litigation enforcement and defense
• Trademarks and branding
• Utility patents
• Bag tags
• Agricultural licensing
• Seed production
• Regulatory law

Experience

• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 9,566,891, SEED TENDER WITH INTERCHANGEABLE CONVEYORS, for Meridian Manufacturing, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 10,299,427, ROW PLANTER WITH ADJUSTABLE GAUGE WHEELS, for Harvest International, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 10,219,430 B2, AGRICULTURAL DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING SOIL AND SEED CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYZING THE SAME, for Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 9,277,688 B2, AIR SEED METER WITH ADJUSTABLE SINGULATOR, for Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 10,080,321 B2, AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUS FOR AG BASED OPERATIONS, for Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 9,901,026 B2, MULTIPLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT APPLICATION METHOD AND SYSTEMS, for Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 9,964,532 B2, BIODEGRADABLE SOIL SENSOR, SYSTEM AND METHOD, for North Dakota State University Research Foundation.
• Prepared and prosecuted U.S. patent number 9,427,018 B2, EQUIPMENT FOR TOBACCO TREATMENT OR ANOTHER BULK MATERIAL SENSITIVE TO MECHANICAL STRESS, for Souza Cruz SA.