Warsaw, Northern Indiana & Indianapolis · Indiana
Indiana device companies compete in some of the most heavily patented territory in medicine: joint reconstruction, trauma, and the instruments that go with them. Robert Knechtel, a patent attorney who is also a physician and engineer, advises founders and technical leaders on building patent positions that hold up in that environment.
Warsaw, in Kosciusko County, markets itself as the Orthopedic Capital of the World, and the label has a long history behind it. Revra DePuy began building fracture splints there in 1895, and the business he started is now DePuy Synthes, the orthopaedics franchise of Johnson & Johnson. Zimmer Biomet lists its principal executive offices on East Main Street in Warsaw. In October 2025, Johnson & Johnson announced its intent to separate DePuy Synthes into a standalone orthopaedics company, a change that will ripple through licensing, supply and partnership arrangements across the region.
The local support structure is purpose-built for this industry. OrthoWorx, a nonprofit formed in 2009 with initial support from Lilly Endowment Inc., focuses on talent, community and industry growth, and runs AcceLINX, a program aimed at entrepreneurs and inventors. OrthoWorx is one of several organizations launched through BioCrossroads, the life sciences initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership in Indianapolis, which also formed the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute and invests in early-stage life sciences companies through dedicated funds.
Beyond Warsaw, the state's device base extends to Indianapolis and Bloomington. The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is an anchor tenant in the 16 Tech Innovation District. Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering operates in both West Lafayette and Indianapolis, and in May 2026 Purdue and Bloomington-based Cook Medical announced a five-year master research agreement focused on image-guided procedures and advanced device manufacturing, extending a collaboration that dates to the 1970s.
For a smaller company, this concentration cuts both ways. Access to experienced engineers, surgeon-designers and contract manufacturers is unusually good, but the prior art in hips, knees and trauma fixation is deep, and the largest competitors maintain extensive portfolios. Patent work here tends to reward precise claiming of what is actually new, careful attention to who owns contributions from consultants and suppliers, and diligence that anticipates ownership changes among the region's largest companies.
Patent Strategy Considerations
Where decades of implant and instrument patents already exist, broad claims invite rejection during examination and, after issuance, challenges such as inter partes review based on earlier patents and publications. Separate claim sets directed to implant geometry, instrumentation, and surgical method can give a small company more than one path to meaningful coverage.
Inventorship follows contribution to conception, not job title or contract language, so consulting surgeons and engineering suppliers can become inventors on your application. Agreements should address assignment before development begins. Royalty payments to physicians for their intellectual property are also a reportable category under CMS Open Payments, which affects how those arrangements are documented.
Separations, acquisitions and divestitures among large orthopedic companies can change who holds a license, a supply agreement or a co-development right. Before relying on an existing agreement or pursuing a partnership, confirm chain of title, assignability and change-of-control terms so the rights you are counting on survive the transaction.
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 Warsaw, Northern Indiana & Indianapolis-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
Not for patent prosecution. Practice before the USPTO is federal, and registered patent attorneys and agents may represent applicants regardless of where the applicant is located. Matters governed by Indiana state law, such as certain employment or contract disputes, may call for counsel licensed in Indiana, and we can work alongside that counsel when needed.
It depends on the surgeon's contribution. Under U.S. patent law, the threshold question is who contributed to the conception of the claimed invention; providing feedback or performing routine testing under direction generally does not make someone an inventor. Getting inventorship right matters because errors can affect ownership and validity.
The answer turns on the agreement's assignment, change-of-control and termination provisions. We review those terms, confirm current ownership of the licensed patents, and identify steps to protect your position before the transaction closes.
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