James “Jim” Babineau is the Managing Principal of Fish & Richardson P.C.’s office in Austin, Texas, but is frequently also found in the Boston office, where he worked for 10 years before moving to Austin in 2006. Mr. Babineau advises clients concerning the protection and licensing of their intellectual property and the avoidance of infringement risks, and manages client patent portfolios in electrical and mechanical technology areas. The clients he advises range from Fortune 100 companies to independent inventors. Many of the clients he has counseled are consumer product manufacturers, in industries like personal care appliances, toys, infant care, fasteners, robotics, power tools, packaging, fabrics, and the like. He also counsels equipment and machinery manufacturers and automotive components suppliers. He has helped to plan several international licensing programs, and has negotiated several specific intellectual property license and cross-license deals. He helps clients plan and implement an intellectual property strategy, including trademark, copyright and trade secret protection, driven by their long-term business goals.
Before beginning his legal career, he spent several years as an executive and as an automotive development engineer. His engineering duties included design and development of vehicle chassis systems and geotechnical and environmental exploration and testing equipment.