Deep tech IP attorney David Ashton on building IP that justifies itself to boards

Growing up in Plano, Texas in an environment shaped by tech and business, David Ashton was exposed early to the connection between technology and entrepreneurship. “I was always wired a little entrepreneurially — taking notes in class on one of those early kid-version Palm Pilots and getting into side hustles between classes like selling promotional pens I had scrounged up,” David says.

In high school, visits from a futurist from Electronic Data Systems and an IP attorney to his business class helped connect the dots. “This was really the first time that I understood that there was a career that sat at the intersection of technology, business, and law,” he reflects. After studying systems engineering in college to build his foundation in technical thinking and business, IP law felt like the natural extension of what he was gearing up to.

Today David is a partner at Patterson+Sheridan LLP in Dallas, working with companies across deep tech — optics, semiconductors, advanced hardware, display technologies, and others — as well as universities and tech transfer offices. “I’m a patent attorney,” he says, “but I take pride in being an IP strategist.” In deep tech, it’s an important distinction: “these are highly competitive, capital-intensive spaces where IP isn’t just a legal asset — it’s core to how companies differentiate, partner, and compete.”

We built a great friendship through working together, and we’ve stayed connected ever since.

What going in-house for two years taught David about startup IP strategy

From David’s first day at Patterson+Sheridan, the firm’s named partner drove one idea home across the firm: “we’re not in the business of putting up wallpaper. The goal isn’t just to file patents — it’s to build assets that actually matter to the business.”

David tested that principle from the inside when he completed two secondments at a client, totaling about two years. Being embedded in the company’s IP function, close to the engineers, the product roadmap, and the competitive decisions, validated what Patterson had always preached: that a filing without a business reason behind it isn’t a strategy, it’s wallpaper. “IP ties into real business decisions,” he says. “It’s something I’ve carried forward in our practice, and how I mentor others in our firm.”

Not just wallpaper: building assets that matter vs. simply filing IP

The startups David works with don’t always arrive with that understanding. Most treat IP as something to handle, not something to build — “treating it as a checkbox instead of a strategic tool,” he says, is one of the most expensive mistakes a fast-growing company can make.

The test he applies: could you justify your patent portfolio to the board? Not describe it — justify it. “Could you tie every patent to a revenue stream or a licensing opportunity?” he asks. “This is where we really provide our value.”

Getting there doesn’t require a massive budget — it requires clarity about what’s core to the technology and what differentiates it. “That’s what’s worth protecting,” David says. “Not everything needs to be a patent — but the core technology, the key drivers of that startup, need to be identified early.” IP shouldn’t be siloed from product, engineering, and leadership discussions. The build-up has to track the roadmap.

And every filing should be justifiable: does it protect revenue, protect R&D investment, or create a sellable asset, even if the program doesn’t pan out? “The best startups treat IP as part of building the business,” he says. “It’s not something that you bolt on later.”

The whiteboard is key: why outside counsel has to be in the room

When asked where his business acumen comes from, David doesn’t hesitate: the whiteboard.

Not as a metaphor, but a literal practice. “I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with people at the front lines of innovation — inventors, technologists, salespeople, marketers, counsel, executives,” he says. “Sitting down with those teams, working through ideas in real time, mapping out products or strategy really builds your understanding of how that business operates. That extra time before and after meetings to sketch things out, ask questions, poke and prod — that’s the real key to building business acumen as an IP attorney.”

For David, it all comes back to being present. “You’ve got to be in the room. You’ve got to be where the business is actually happening, close to the decisions, sitting with the team, understanding the product roadmaps. You cannot do this job sitting in your office.” The more embedded you are, the more useful you become — asking questions about why decisions are made, how the company competes, what success looks like beyond IP metrics. “By doing this consistently,” David says, “you shift from thinking like a legal advisor to thinking like a strategic partner. And at Patterson+Sheridan, thinking like a strategic partner is really where we believe that real value is created.”

What AI changes in deep tech IP, and what it doesn’t

Most people think of AI as a software story, but the patent volume David is seeing is coming from the hardware required to run it. “Companies are moving beyond their legacy products to the next phase of innovation to support the AI demand,” he says — semiconductors, advanced display systems, novel chip architectures, system-level engineering built to handle AI’s computational demands. “We’re protecting a wave of hardware needed to implement and scale AI-driven technologies.”

On the legal side, David says, the fundamentals haven’t changed. “You have to be proactive. You have to understand the business. You have to spend time at the whiteboard. AI cannot replace the passionate attorney who has skin in the game — who is out there understanding your client’s business, being there in the room for those key decisions and really focusing on capturing that core technology. Tools may evolve, but the value still comes from thinking strategically, asking the right questions, and aligning your IP where the business is going.”

Final thoughts

Talking with David reminded me of something I saw firsthand when working with him, and have seen consistently in the IP professionals I most respect since: the ones who create the most value are the ones who are curious about the businesses they serve, who show up to the whiteboard and stay close to the decisions. I remember some of those whiteboard meetings with David. That instinct — to be in the room, to understand what’s at stake before picking up a pen — is what separates a filing from an asset.