Bruce Patterson, a partner at Patterson + Sheridan in the firm's Houston office, spoke recently with Texas Lawyer about the state of intellectual property law during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what we can expect once the virus is vanquished.

What's happening in your practice area of IP law?

Bruce Patterson: For the most part, we have been very pleased to see that our clients are still protecting their new IP at the same rate as before, and that includes filing patent and trademark applications. Of course, anything energy-related has slowed or stopped because of the dramatic downturn in the oil and gas industry, but our clients in telecommunications, semiconductors, all forms of advanced technology, are moving steadily forward.