Bryan serves as the Kansas City office Corporate Department Chair and is a registered patent attorney, mechanical engineer and former patent examiner for the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). His practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property law, with an emphasis on patent prosecution, patent infringement/non-infringement opinions, negotiating and documenting technology-related transactions, strategic protection of intellectual property assets and intellectual property litigation. Bryan regularly handles procurement of intellectual property in the U.S. and abroad, including in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and numerous other jurisdictions worldwide. He has counseled clients on the analysis of patent validity and infringement, represented clients in patent infringement litigation, and prosecuted numerous patent applications relating to such technologies as:

• medical devices (e.g., dental and surgical implants and related surgical procedures, intubation devices and procedures, prosthetics, dialysis systems, periodontal treatment systems and protocols, implant design and manufacturing systems and procedures, wound treatment compositions and treatment procedures/protocols, biomaterial scaffolds and cages, and systems and methods of design and fabrication of biomaterial scaffolds/cages).
• robotics, commercial/industrial machinery and related manufacturing processes and control systems (e.g., food processing machinery, vending machines, robotic delivery and control systems, pot and pan washing systems, CNC machine systems).
• telecommunications systems (e.g., interactive voice response systems).
• mechanical and electrical devices (e.g., heated hand grips, storage systems, hand tools, cookware, garment steamers, steam cleaners).
• RFID (radio frequency identification).
• software.
• financial products.
• business methods.
• In addition, Bryan is a member of the ABA’s Post-Alice Task Force, designed to identify (1) how the USPTO and the courts are applying Alice v. CLS Bank (a 2014 Supreme Court decision that significantly increased the difficulty of obtaining and enforcing software-related patents) and (2) the types of inventions, claims and arguments that survive a patentable subject matter challenge following the Alice decision.

Bryan’s extensive experience allows him to assist clients in developing cost-effective and comprehensive strategies for obtaining protection of and properly enforcing their intellectual property throughout the world. In addition to being a registered patent attorney, heis admitted to practice and has represented clients in the state and federal district courts in Kansas and Missouri and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and has also represented clients in intellectual property cases in numerous other district courts throughout the United States, including the Southern District of New York, Northern District of Illinois, the Central District of California, the Eastern District of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Western District of Michigan, before the International Trade Commission, and in Multi-District Litigation.

Bryan’s experience includes:

• drafting and prosecuting utility patents for inventions involving mechanical, optics, software and business method technologies.
• drafting and prosecuting design patents.
• drafting legal IP opinions relating to both utility and design patents, including non-infringement patent opinions, right-to-use and patent invalidity opinions, and design-around opinions.
• counseling clients on patent filing strategies, patent design-around efforts, and company growth using IP strategies.
• counseling both start-up and established companies on how to effectively leverage technology and intellectual property, and navigate through potential patent infringement situations.
• developing corporate invention capture and/or management programs to maximize value of intellectual property rights for high-tech and business organizations.
• preparing and negotiating a wide variety of technology transactions including agreements involving technology asset purchases, complex technology and software licensing and non-disclosure agreements, evaluation and consulting agreements, research and development agreements, web hosting agreements, supply and distribution agreements, as well as joint venture/development agreements.drafting and reviewing website privacy policies and terms of use and advising clients regarding conducting business on the web.
• analyzing client patent portfolios and those of competitors to maximize a client’s patent portfolio and minimize likelihood of patent infringement.
• conducting, advising and assisting clients on trademark and trade dress clearance searches and opinions and registration of trademarks and trade dress.
• advising and assisting clients on trademark and trade dress opposition/cancellation proceedings and trademark and trade dress infringement litigation.
• advising and assisting clients on copyright registration and enforcement.
• counseling clients in pre-suit risk management, and representing clients in patent, trademark, trade dress and copyright infringement litigation, mediations, arbitrations and appeals.