Electronics & Software Patent Attorneys
Torrey Pines Law Group's electronics patent attorneys and patent agents protect electronic devices, circuits, batteries, computer hardware and the embedded software that runs them. Team members have backgrounds in electrical engineering and physics, and one was Senior Patent Counsel at Qualcomm for ten years.
At a Glance
- What we do: Device, circuit and system patents, embedded software and firmware claims, portfolio strategy, licensing and opinions
- Team: James McFarland, Steven Stupp and Eleanor Musick
- Offices: San Diego (headquarters), Los Angeles, Orange County, Boston and Palo Alto
- Recognition: Chambers California Spotlight Guide 2025 and 2026
Electronics Patents in Boston, LA, Orange County, San Diego & Palo Alto
Torrey Pines Law Group's electronics patent attorneys and software patent attorneys have assisted semiconductor chip and equipment manufacturers, microelectronics manufacturers, lithium-ion battery and enabled device manufacturers, and Artificial Intelligence systems developers for more than 15 years.
The firm has been recognized by Chambers, the premier international legal ranking organization, as a leading California intellectual property law firm specifically focused on electronics and software patent preparation and prosecution. Torrey Pines Law Group's inclusion as a top patent law firm underscores its exceptional capabilities in patent preparation and prosecution, IP legal opinions, intellectual property due diligence, lifecycle management, litigation avoidance, IP transactions, and related business strategy for emerging EE and software technologies.
We have also been selected by BCG as a Top San Diego IP Law Firm, and have been consistently selected by The Patent Lawyer magazine as one of the Top Ten West Coast IP and patent law firms.
An electronic product is rarely protected by one kind of claim. The device or circuit, the method by which it operates and the firmware that controls it can each be claimed, and a patent that covers only one of them is easy to design around. We prepare hardware and software claims together, so that the patent covers the product as it is built and sold. Inventions that live entirely in code are handled by the same team and are described on our software patents page.
We prepare and prosecute patent applications for electronic technologies including:
Electronic Devices and Hardware
- Circuits and Power Electronics: Analog, digital and mixed-signal circuits, power converters, and battery management and charging circuits.
- Batteries and Energy Storage: Lithium-ion cells and packs, and the devices they power.
- Computer Hardware: Processors, memory, storage and peripheral devices, and the architectures that connect them. Chip-level inventions are described on our semiconductor patents page.
- Sensors and Instruments: Sensing, measurement and imaging devices, including medical devices and industrial instruments.
- Connected Devices: Wearables, handheld devices and other products that communicate over wireless and wired networks.
- Optical and Laser Systems: Displays, optical sensors and lasers and optics built into electronic products.
Where the invention is in the code that runs on the device, we claim the software with the hardware it controls:
Embedded Software and Firmware
- Firmware and Control Software: Software that operates a device, such as motor control, power management and signal processing.
- Software as Part of a Larger Invention: Patents in which software is a critical element of a broader system (e.g., a medical diagnostic system with AI-powered analysis software, or an industrial automation system with control software).
- Artificial Intelligence on the Device: Machine learning models that run on the product itself rather than on a remote server.
Patent or Trade Secret?
Hardware can usually be inspected and reverse engineered once it is sold, which makes a patent the natural form of protection. Manufacturing processes, test methods and source code often cannot be seen from the product, and some of them are better kept as trade secrets. We help clients decide which inventions to patent and which to keep confidential, and we explain how trade secrets and patents compare.
Who Handles Electronics Patent Matters
The firm's electronics patent work is handled by James McFarland, Steven Stupp and Eleanor Musick. For background, see our FAQs on patent eligibility, specifications and claim scope.
We welcome the opportunity to see how we can work together.
