Counsel for the frontier of computation
Intellectual property, diligence and licensing for cryptography, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and big data, from lawyers and researchers who read the papers before they write the claims.
Practice
Patent strategy and commercial counsel for advanced technology.
Standards and IP Strategy
We track the research, standards, and patent record around post-quantum cryptography, then advise on freedom-to-operate, contribution strategy, and portfolio positioning for implementations and products.
Standards and IP StrategyPatent Portfolios
We identify patentable advances in ongoing research and product work, draft claims that survive examination and diligence, and build portfolios that support financing, licensing, and acquisition in cryptography, AI, and security.
Patent PortfoliosIP Due Diligence
We evaluate whether a portfolio’s claims are defensible, whether ownership is clean, and whether the IP actually supports the product and the deal thesis—from seed review through M&A in AI, cryptography, and data systems.
IP Due DiligenceLicensing and Transactions
We structure technology licenses and joint development agreements, handle the IP side of M&A and financings, and resolve founder and inventor ownership questions so the rights transfer cleanly.
Licensing and Transactions
Post-quantum · research into standards
The state of post-quantum standardization
New cryptography moves through years of public evaluation before becoming a standard. Our analysis tracks NIST’s candidate fields, algorithm selections and published post-quantum standards.
We built PQScope to connect that process to the research, people, organizations and patent disclosures behind it.
Ribbon width shows the number of candidate entries.Ribbon width shows candidate counts. Tap a milestone for its breakdown. Dates mark evaluation stages.
Snapshot: · PQScope by CipherLaw
Counts and sources
Counts describe candidate entries at milestones, not proposed standards or deployment. Gray branches show reductions, including mergers, withdrawals and non-advancement. Spacing shows stages, not elapsed time.
| Milestone | Date | Key establishment | Signatures | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accepted | 2017 | 49 | 20 | 69 |
| Round 2 | 2019 | 17 | 9 | 26 |
| Round 3 | 2020 | 9 | 6 | 15 |
| Selected | 2022–2025 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Final standards | 2026-10-26 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Selected, not final | 2026-10-26 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
- Accepted: 69 submissions met NIST's entry requirements: 49 encryption/key-establishment and 20 signature schemes. NIST IR 8240 · first-round report
- Round 2: 26 candidate entries advanced. Several first-round submissions merged before the second round. NIST IR 8240 · first-round report
- Round 3: 15 candidates remained: nine encryption/key-establishment schemes and six signature schemes, across finalists and alternates. NIST IR 8413 · third-round report
- Selected: Four algorithms were selected in 2022. HQC joined them after round 4 in March 2025. Selection and final publication are separate milestones. NIST IR 8413 · third-round report · NIST selects HQC · March 11, 2025
| Milestone | Date | Key establishment | Signatures | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accepted | 2023 | 0 | 40 | 40 |
| Round 2 | 2024 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Round 3 | May 2026 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Active candidates | 2026-10-26 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Withdrawn | 2026-10-26 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
- Accepted: 40 additional-signature candidates were accepted into a separate process. They are not added to the original competition's 69 as unique algorithms. NIST IR 8528 · additional signatures
- Round 2: 14 signature candidates advanced to the second round in October 2024. NIST IR 8528 · additional signatures
- Round 3: Nine candidates advanced in May 2026. Later withdrawals are shown separately in the snapshot outcomes. NIST IR 8610 · additional-signature round 3
Team
Research
- Nov 2026Standards and IP StrategyA new practice area focused on tracking research, standards, and patents so technology companies can implement or contribute to post-quantum cryptography without creating avoidable IP problems.
- Nov 2026What investors read in a quantum startup's patent portfolioInvestor counsel reads a quantum startup's patent families twice, in the data room and in the public record at the USPTO and EPO. How to spend a limited patent budget so both tell the same story.
- PaperSelf-supervised training for patent prior-art searchCase Studies in Machine Learning, The University of Texas at Austin
Get in touch
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