Overview

Participants in the food and beverage industry face a host of challenges, from unpredictable consumer appetites to stringent regulations and threats of litigation. We help clients of all sizes navigate this complex environment, driving their innovations forward and establishing distinct brands that resonate in a volatile market.

McKee, Voorhees & Sease provides sophisticated, business-savvy IP strategies that span the entire food and beverage supply chain – from research and development to production, sales, packaging, marketing, and branding. We protect the rights to our clients’ unique products and processes through patents, trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress, and copyrights. Then, we assist in guiding their discoveries to market, by obtaining regulatory approvals and advising on labeling requirements, creating favorable licensing and distribution agreements and vigorously defending against infringement.

Our client base is diverse in both size and output. We represent private label and name brand producers and manufacturers – who create everything from preservatives and sweeteners to retail food and cannabis products – as well as machinery manufacturers and companies that serve the restaurant industry. On the beverage side, we work with a broad range of breweries, distilleries, and wineries, among others.

Brands can struggle to distinguish themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Leveraging broad IP experience, scientific acuity, and an exhaustive knowledge of the competitive landscape, MVS offers individualized plans for market differentiation to clients as needed. We apply a strategic focus to the protection of intellectual assets, mapping all potential avenues of commercialization in order to draft applications with the broadest possible scope.

In the regulatory arena, we counsel on labeling, compliance, regulatory approvals, global approvals, and licensing, as well as early-stage product development to ensure a streamlined regulatory path to market. Cassie Edgar, the Regulatory Practice Group Chair has two decades of experience serving as in-house counsel for agriculture and biotechnology companies, giving our group insight into the unique research and product development challenges generated by a shifting regulatory environment. We draw on that firsthand perspective to craft creative solutions that help clients achieve their goals and grow their business.

Services include:

• Branding
• Utility and design patents
• Patentability searches and opinions
• Freedom-to-operate analysis and opinions
• Due diligence for mergers and acquisitions
• Portfolio planning and management
• Invention disclosure vetting and analysis
• Patent procurement in U.S. and foreign jurisdictions
• Competitive landscape audits
• License agreement drafting and negotiation
• Patent and trademark infringement
• Trademarks protection and counseling
• Regulatory counsel
• Labeling
• Compliance
• Marketing authorization
• Permits
• FDA, EPA, and USDA approvals
• Stakeholder engagement