Philadelphia · Pennsylvania
Knechtel Law Group represents medical device companies before the USPTO nationwide from Carefree, Arizona. Philadelphia-area teams can work directly with a patent attorney trained in medicine and engineering on claims that match how their devices are actually used.
Greater Philadelphia's device story runs through its academic medical centers, and pediatrics is an unusually strong thread. Penn Health-Tech, formally the Penn Center for Health, Devices and Technology, was created by the Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Engineering, and the university's research office to move device and health technology ideas from Penn and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia toward the market. CHOP runs its own technology transfer office, and it is the home base of the Pennsylvania Pediatric Medical Device Consortium, an FDA-sponsored collaboration that draws on engineers and clinicians from CHOP, Drexel University, and Penn to address the shortage of devices designed for children.
The region also has deep roots in company formation. The University City Science Center, incorporated in 1963, is recognized as the first urban research park in the United States and has housed start-up companies for decades. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, founded in 1982, provides early-stage capital to companies in fields that include medical devices and diagnostics. Life Sciences Pennsylvania, the statewide trade association, represents research institutions, device and diagnostic companies, investors, and service providers across the commonwealth.
On the commercial side, the suburbs northwest of the city are home to Globus Medical in Audubon, a musculoskeletal company known for spine implants and enabling technologies, which completed its merger with NuVasive in September 2023. That combination produced one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in spine and orthopedics, which matters to any smaller company entering those procedures.
The patent implications follow from that mix. Pediatric devices serve smaller patient populations, so claims should be written to cover sensible adaptations for other populations and indications without losing support in the specification. Spine and orthopedic innovation takes place in heavily patented territory, which makes early prior art searching, design-around documentation, and focused claims important. Inventions arising at a children's hospital or university require clarity about institutional ownership before a company is formed. And because Pennsylvania adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act in 2004, manufacturing methods and process know-how that are not patented can still be protected if the company maintains reasonable secrecy measures.
Patent Strategy Considerations
A device developed for children often has adult, veterinary, or alternative-anatomy applications. Drafting the specification to describe size ranges, material variations, and alternative indications at filing preserves the ability to claim them later, which can make a pediatric product more attractive to licensees and investors.
Where large portfolios already exist, a patent plan should begin with a targeted search and freedom-to-operate assessment, keep a record of design choices made to avoid existing claims, and use continuation filings to follow the product as it evolves through surgeon feedback and testing.
Pennsylvania's Uniform Trade Secrets Act protects confidential information that derives value from secrecy. For manufacturing processes that competitors cannot readily observe in the finished device, trade secret protection may be a reasonable alternative or complement to patenting, provided access controls and confidentiality agreements are actually in place.
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 Philadelphia-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
It is not required for USPTO matters. Patent prosecution is governed by federal rules, and a registered patent attorney may represent applicants before the USPTO wherever they are located. Pennsylvania-law questions, such as employment agreements, and litigation in Pennsylvania courts may call for counsel admitted in Pennsylvania, and we can coordinate with local counsel in those situations.
Ownership usually depends on the inventors' employment agreements and the institution's IP policy. Most spinouts obtain an exclusive license or assignment from the institution. Reviewing those documents before filing, or before the company takes over prosecution, avoids gaps in the chain of title.
Funding programs can carry reporting or other terms, so the grant documents should be reviewed alongside any institutional agreements before filing. The answer depends on the specific award and agreements involved.
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