About Black Dog Law, PLLC

Black Dog Law is a Tulsa intellectual property law firm built for people who are creating, growing, and protecting something valuable. We work with inventors, founders, entrepreneurs, small and mid-sized businesses, established companies, and other attorneys who need experienced intellectual property support.

Our work includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing, IP ownership and enforcement, as well as the business agreements and strategic decisions that affect those assets over time.

Practical IP Strategy, Not Just Filings

Intellectual property protection is rarely a one-time form or filing. The right strategy depends on what you are building, where the business is headed, how the asset creates value, and what risks actually matter.

That is why we start by listening. We want to understand the product, brand, invention, creative work, or business before deciding what protection makes sense. Sometimes the answer is a patent or trademark filing. Sometimes it is a contract, an ownership cleanup, a clearance review, a licensing strategy, or a decision not to file yet.

Our goal is to give clients clear options, practical recommendations, and legal work that supports the business rather than getting in its way.

Explore our intellectual property and business legal services, including patent protection and trademark and brand protection.

Built Around Entrepreneurs and Growing Businesses

Black Dog Law is closely connected to Tulsa’s founder and small-business community. We regularly work with people who are launching a first product, building a brand, hiring contractors, raising money, entering new markets, or trying to make sense of intellectual property issues that have suddenly become more important as the business grows.

Founder Kate Sullivan is also active in Tulsa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through Startup Grind Tulsa and educational programming for business owners and founders. That involvement keeps the firm close to the real questions businesses are asking long before those questions become formal legal matters.

Meet Kate Sullivan and Jansen Rigney.

Why “Black Dog”?

The name Black Dog Law is personal. Black Labs have been part of Kate’s family for years, and the firm’s name grew out of that connection. The dogs are more than branding. They are a reminder of the qualities Kate wanted the firm to reflect from the beginning: loyalty, steadiness, approachability, and a willingness to stay close to the people you are helping.

That connection also shows up in the organizations the firm supports. Black Dog Law has sponsored Lab Rescue OK’s Golf to the Rescue event, and Kate has personally adopted rescue Labs through the organization. Read more about Black Dog Law’s support of Lab Rescue OK.

Community Matters

We believe a law firm can be part of the business and community ecosystem it serves. For Black Dog Law, that means more than client work. It means teaching, mentoring, making introductions, supporting founder events, serving community organizations, and helping people find the right resources even when the answer is not a legal engagement.

Kate’s community involvement has included work with Tulsa entrepreneurship and nonprofit organizations, founder education, Startup Grind Tulsa, and events designed to create practical connections among business owners, advisors, and community resources.

We also support local and Oklahoma organizations whose work matters to us, including animal-rescue and community-focused nonprofits.

How We Work

Our clients are often moving quickly. We try to make the legal side easier to understand by being direct about risk, responsive about next steps, and practical about cost. We would rather help a client identify an issue early than wait until a preventable problem becomes expensive.

That approach applies whether we are preparing a patent application, clearing a new brand, responding to a USPTO refusal, reviewing an agreement, or helping a business think through its broader IP portfolio.

Your Idea’s Best Friend.

Black Dog Law was built around a simple idea: good legal counsel should help people move forward with more confidence. If you are building something worth protecting, we want you to understand your options and have a strategy that fits what you are actually trying to accomplish.

Read our practical guidance in Insights, or contact Black Dog Law to discuss your business or intellectual property needs.