Dallas–Fort Worth · Texas
North Texas device companies often compete in mature categories such as ophthalmic surgery and spine, where established portfolios define the terrain. Robert Knechtel, a registered patent attorney with medical and engineering training, helps teams find protectable ground and move through examination with purpose.
Two long-established product categories give the Metroplex much of its device identity. Alcon began in 1945 as a small Fort Worth pharmacy focused on sterile eye care products; although its global headquarters is now in Geneva following its 2019 separation from Novartis, Fort Worth remains its main operational base, and its portfolio spans ophthalmic surgical products and contact lenses. In Lewisville, Orthofix, which combined with SeaSpine, is headquartered and offers spinal implants, bone growth therapies, limb reconstruction systems, biologics and a surgical navigation platform.
On the research side, UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas moves discoveries toward the market through its Office for Technology Development, which commercializes technologies either by licensing them to existing companies or by forming new startups, with staff who manage ventures through their internal development phase until outside leadership is recruited. Across the city, Pegasus Park has become a gathering point for early-stage life science companies: BioLabs Pegasus Park opened in 2022 as a shared lab and office community for startups, and the campus was selected as the home of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health's Customer Experience Hub, operated through a consortium of Texas cities.
BioNTX, the life science trade organization for North Texas, supports company formation and industry growth across the region through educational programs, mentorship, networking and advocacy. It is an affiliate of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and hosts the annual iC3 Life Science Summit.
For patent strategy, the region's mix of large incumbents in ophthalmology and orthopedics and a growing base of academic spinouts creates a particular dynamic. Newer entrants in spine, surgical instruments or eye care are likely to operate among dense existing portfolios, which makes early freedom-to-operate review and careful claim positioning more valuable than broad filings that invite prior art rejections. The appearance of an implant, instrument handle or user interface can also carry commercial significance in these categories, and design patents are a separate, often underused, form of protection. Spinouts licensing from an academic medical center should additionally align their own filing plans with the scope of the licensed rights so that company-developed improvements are captured.
Patent Strategy Considerations
In spine, ophthalmic surgery and orthopedic instrumentation, a new product can be novel and still read on someone else's claims. A focused freedom-to-operate review before design freeze gives engineers time to adjust features, and it informs where the company's own claims should be concentrated.
A design patent protects the ornamental appearance of an article of manufacture, including its shape or surface ornamentation, and lasts 15 years from grant for applications filed on or after May 13, 2015. Distinctive implant geometry, instrument profiles or on-screen interfaces may justify design filings in addition to utility applications. Design inventions cannot be filed as provisional applications, so timing should be planned separately.
When a launch or financing depends on issued claims, the USPTO's Track One prioritized examination program, available for a fee at filing, sets a goal of reaching final disposition within about twelve months on average of the grant of prioritized status. It is a useful tool when the commercial calendar is tight, though it does not change the standards for allowance.
How Engagements Work
Knechtel Law Group is based in Carefree, Arizona. Patent prosecution and counseling before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is federal practice, and engagements with Dallas–Fort Worth-area companies are handled directly by senior counsel by video and in person as needed. Matters that turn on state law may call for local counsel.
Request a Confidential ConsultationCommon Questions
No. Patent prosecution before the USPTO is federal practice, and registered patent attorneys may represent clients across the United States. Matters under Texas law, such as disputes over employment agreements or state-court litigation, may require Texas-licensed counsel, and we can coordinate with local counsel where appropriate.
It can be, depending on whether the product's appearance is distinctive and commercially meaningful. A design patent does not protect how the device functions, which is the role of a utility patent, but it can deter close copies of a recognizable form. The decision should be made before public release, and it works best as part of a combined filing plan.
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