Think Locally, Act Globally: A Strategy for IP Litigation

Originally Published MX November/December 2003

GOVERNMENTAL & LEGAL AFFAIRS

To defend U.S. patent interests, medtech executives should be prepared to leverage—and defend against—related foreign patent proceedings.

Timothy J. Malloy and Gregory J. Vogler

Medical device manufacturers risk millions of dollars in research and development—and plunge millions more into manufacturing facilities for new products—in the hope of, first, developing proprietary technology and, second, obtaining a healthy return on their investment through sales based on such technology. It therefore comes as no surprise that, after incurring such risk, innovative developers do not take lightly infringement of their intellectual property rights by followers in the market. Often, patent litigation ensues.