News

Hunter Adams and Alexa Stabler chosen Best Lawyers – 2023

As an attorney at AdamsIP, LLC, I have witnessed the power of mediation firsthand when it comes to resolving intellectual property (IP) disputes. From this perspective I often stress the importance of mediation as an alternative to litigation. In this blog post, I share why mediating IP disputes is often the best approach for all parties involved.

As advancements are made in the medical industry, inventors of medical devices need to be aware of the importance of ensuring their intellectual property (IP) is adequately protected. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate why IP protection is essential is to examine the different types of IP protection and how they apply to medical devices, and what can happen when companies forgo the important first step of properly protecting their devices and processes for medical device IP.

The world we live in is constantly evolving, and the commercial, technological landscape is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, 84% of the value of S&P 500 companies in 2018 consisted of intangibles, such as intellectual property (IP) rights. As a result, it is difficult for investors to ignore the many advantages of investing in IP.

Utility patent applications cover the way an invention function while design patent applications cover the way an invention looks.  Many of our clients are candidates for both utility and design applications (often for the same invention).  For example, one of our clients is an inventor of a percussive instrument producing cymatic effects.  The invention uses water to alter the sound of the drum.  We protected the function of the drum with a utility patent (US 10,621,960).  Theoretically, the drum could have many different shapes and still function the same. However, the particular drum this inventor brought to market had a specific (and good-looking) design.  That specific design was protected with a design patent (D858,626).