IP Strategies for Medical Device Technologies: Be Your Own Incubator

Doug Portnow is a registered patent attorney and a Principal of Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. His practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, IP due diligence and strategic counseling in the medical device and mechanical technologies.

Prior to joining Schwegman, Doug was a Member at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and an associate at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton). Before entering the legal profession, Doug worked for over a decade in the medical device industry holding engineering and management positions at start-ups and publicly traded companies commercializing critical care products, vascular grafts, surgical instruments, stents, stent delivery systems, RF ablation catheters, embolic protection devices, and heart failure implants. Doug has been recognized as a Rising Star by Northern California Super Lawyers.

Roy D?az is the associate vice-president-patent attorney for L’Or?al R & I USA. He started his career as a patent attorney in one of the top patent law firms in the U.S., Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. He then joined Intellectual Ventures where he built and developed patent portfolios mainly in the fields of medical devices, wearable technology, information and communication technology, optics and advanced materials. More recently, in 2012, he co-founded D?az|Cook an IP law firm providing clients counseling on the procurement, enforcement, management, and monetization of intellectual property rights and assets.

After earning his B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Washington, he enrolled in graduate school where he studied the fast and slow internal dynamics of C-labeled deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oligomers in solution. Dr. D?az eventually earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry (biophysics), as well as a J.D. from the University of Washington.

Dr. D?az was raised and lived in various places including Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington D.C., and now calls the Pacific Northwest home. He currently serves as a trustee for Seattle Children’s Hospital Board of Trustees, as a member of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute Advisory Board, and as President of the University of Washington Alumni Association.

Dr. D?az was the recipient of the 2012 Latina/o Bar Association of Washington Model of Excellence Award and the 2011 University of Washington’s MAP Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Jonathan serves as a Consulting General Counsel to a number of startups. He has experience with corporate and employment law, and managing litigation.

His practice is transactional and focuses on developing and executing IP strategy, drafting and prosecuting patent applications, mining existing patent portfolios, freedom-to-operate (FTO) and patentability assessments, providing clients with practical, proactive, and timely services in the areas of competitive analysis and portfolio management through each stage of the product development cycle.

Jonathan's practice is focused on software, AR/VR, mechanical and electro-mechanical devices, and computer hardware. He collaborates with business development to evaluate potential acquisitions and licensing opportunities.