Seattle · Washington
The Seattle region's device industry grew from ultrasound and emergency care, and many of its startups are founded by engineers who left established companies. Robert Knechtel, a patent attorney, physician and engineer, helps these teams secure clean ownership and claims that stand apart in mature technical fields.
The region's strength in medical ultrasound has academic roots. Robert Rushmer founded the University of Washington Center for Bioengineering in 1967 as a joint venture of the engineering and medical schools, and his group's work on portable Doppler ultrasound instruments helped lay the foundation for an ultrasound industry that remains in the area today. The center became the UW Department of Bioengineering in 1997.
Bothell became the commercial center of that industry. Advanced Technology Laboratories built its ultrasound business there, and Philips acquired ATL in 1998; a 2011 report noted that virtually all of Philips's ultrasound products for the global market were manufactured and tested in Bothell. In June 2026, Philips said it plans to put its Bothell campus up for sale while intending to keep operations in the area at another local site. SonoSite, founded in 1998 to commercialize portable ultrasound technology that grew out of DARPA-funded research at ATL, is now FUJIFILM Sonosite and remains headquartered in Bothell. Verathon, maker of BladderScan ultrasound instruments and GlideScope video laryngoscopes and a subsidiary of Roper Technologies, is also based in Bothell.
Emergency care is a second anchor. Physio-Control, founded in 1955 and based in Redmond, makes the LIFEPAK line of monitors and defibrillators and the LUCAS chest compression system; Stryker acquired the company in 2016. Life Science Washington, an independent nonprofit trade association serving the state's life sciences industry, advocates for the sector and offers entrepreneurship and venture services. At the university, CoMotion manages technology transfer and offers IP advising, licensing support and gap funding for UW innovators.
This history has direct patent implications. Ultrasound, imaging and resuscitation technologies carry decades of prior art, so new claims must be drawn precisely around genuine improvements in transducers, signal processing or workflow. Former employees of established companies frequently found new ventures, which makes the timing and ownership of each invention critical. Washington also has a statute limiting employer claims to certain employee inventions, a factor both founders and employers should understand.
Patent Strategy Considerations
Ultrasound transducers, beamforming and image processing have been patented extensively for decades. Claims that tie software and signal-processing advances to specific hardware behavior or measurable image improvements are more likely to survive both examination and eligibility scrutiny than broadly functional language.
Under RCW 49.44.140, an employment agreement requiring assignment of inventions does not reach an invention developed entirely on the employee's own time without the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secrets, unless it relates directly to the employer's business or results from work for the employer. Founders leaving established companies should document when and how each invention was conceived.
Point-of-care and portable devices are often recognized by their form factor. A design patent protects the way an article looks, not how it works, and can complement utility patents by covering the distinctive shape of a handheld unit, probe or user interface element.
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 Seattle-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.
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Not for patent prosecution. Practice before the USPTO is federal, and registered patent attorneys and agents may represent applicants anywhere in the United States. Questions under Washington law, such as enforceability of an employment or invention assignment agreement in a dispute, may call for counsel licensed in Washington, and we can work with that counsel.
Possibly, depending on your agreement, when the invention was conceived, what resources were used, and how closely it relates to your former employer's business. Washington's statute limits some assignment provisions but not all. A careful review of your agreements and development records before filing is the prudent first step.
It can be, particularly where a device's appearance is distinctive and copied designs are a concern. Design patents protect visual ornamental characteristics and are typically used alongside utility patents rather than in place of them.
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