Protect what you're building before it becomes exposed or compromised.
We help founders, product leaders, and companies secure patents, trademarks, and IP strategy before exposure becomes a problem.
USPTO
Registered Patent Attorney
Strategy First
Business-aligned IP plans
Direct Access
Work directly with Mario
End to End
From filing to enforcement
Clients we've served
Most teams don't realize they're exposed until it's too late.
You're moving fast, building something real, and trusting the people around you. That's how it should be. It's also how leverage gets lost.
You're sharing ideas without protection
Pitch decks, demos, contractor calls, beta users. Every conversation is a disclosure. Once it's out, it's hard to put back.
You're not sure what's actually protectable
Software, hardware, methods, branding, copy. The line between a great idea and a defensible asset isn't always obvious.
You don't know when or how to file
File too early and you waste runway. File too late and someone else gets priority. The timing matters as much as the filing itself.
Mario T. Milano
Founder · Milano IP
A patent attorney who thinks like an operator.
Mario advises founders, product teams, and companies on protecting and leveraging intellectual property. Not paperwork for paperwork's sake. Strategy that holds up when something is actually at stake, supporting both emerging companies and established organizations.
- Registered patent attorney with deep technical fluency
- Strategic advisor with IP decisions tied to business outcomes
- Practical, plain-spoken counsel without the law-firm theater
- Hands-on from filing through prosecution and enforcement
Range across the lifecycle of an idea.
Experience across early-stage and scaled businesses, aligned with real commercial and operational goals.
Founders and inventors
Launching new products and locking down priority before exposure becomes a problem.
Product teams
Inside growing companies, mapping IP to roadmap and shipping with confidence.
In-house counsel
Needing specialized IP strategy and execution alongside a busy legal function.
Established companies
Protecting and enforcing existing IP across portfolios, partners, and competitors.
Three steps. No mystery.
A clear path from exposed to protected, without the runaround you've come to expect from a law firm.
Step 01
Review your idea and exposure
We start with a focused conversation. What you're building, who's seen it, and where the real risk lives today.
Step 02
Build a protection strategy
A clear plan aligned with your business. What to file, when, and why. No bloated retainers, no surprises.
Step 03
File and secure your IP
We execute. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and the documentation that makes them enforceable later.
Built around outcomes, not billable hours.
Every engagement starts with the question: what does protected actually mean for your business?
Two paths. Pick deliberately.
If you don't act
- Someone else can file first and lock you out.
- Your ideas get copied, legally, by competitors who move faster.
- You lose leverage in funding, partnerships, and acquisition conversations.
- The work you built becomes someone else's asset.
If you do act
- You own your innovation, clearly, defensibly, and on the record.
- You can scale, raise, and partner from a position of strength.
- You can defend, license, and monetize the work you've already done.
- You can confidently build, scale, and defend your position in the market.
Strategic counsel, plainly delivered.
"Mario thinks like a co-founder. He didn't just file our patents, he helped us decide which ones were worth filing in the first place."
Hardware startup founder
Series A · Robotics
"Direct, fast, no theater. Exactly what you want when something is actually on the line."
Product CEO
Consumer SaaS
"He saved us from filing the wrong thing at the wrong time. That conversation alone was worth the engagement."
Solo inventor
Medical device
Start your protection strategy today.
One conversation is usually enough to know what to protect, when to file, and what to ignore. We respond to every inquiry personally.