Our Practice
Medical, Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Practice

As development of medical and healthcare technology continues its explosive growth, Oblon, Spivak is at the forefront of helping companies identify, protect, license and enforce intellectual property in these important areas.

Our success begins with a distinguished professional staff that includes attorneys with specific and significant technical experience. Many of our lawyers are Ph.D.s whose graduate research directly involved biotechnology. Our experience gives us a superior level of familiarity with relevant technical issues, to the competitive advantage of our clients seeking patent protection in this multidimensional field. The lawyers in our practice have a high level of scientific and technical training in the areas of chemistry, biology, biotechnology and biomedical engineering. We have specific expertise analyzing the impact of FDA regulations on intellectual property rights.

Our scientific and technical training enables us to interact directly with scientists, researchers and inventors. This enhances our ability to provide our clients with a full range of intellectual property protection and services, from drafting new patent applications, to prosecuting applications into patents, to portfolio management and counseling, to assisting our clients in the enforcement of their intellectual property rights.

In addition to our sophisticated technical backgrounds, our Alexandria, Va., location - literally next door to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - enables us to provide our clients with an unparalleled level of patent representation. Our location allows us regularly to meet face-to-face with PTO examiners, enhancing our ability to obtain protection for our clients' inventions while keeping cost to a minimum. Our close working relationship with the PTO is an important factor contributing to our record of success in obtaining patent protection for our clients.

Fully safeguarding inventions sometimes calls for measures beyond patents. Our attorneys are experienced in securing other methods of protection for developments in the field. As biotechnology development continues to outpace the law, courts are constantly reviewing and revising earlier opinions on patentability, infringement and issues of public policy. We help clients protect themselves against these legal uncertainties through strategies that build on other legal safeguards, such as trade secret protection and contract protection. By helping our clients incorporate these and other non-patent protection schemes into their portfolios, we help ensure that they achieve superior commercial success.

Areas of focus

• Medical
• Biomedical
• Pharmaceutical