Medical Devices

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Healthcare · Medical Technology

Medical device companies get IP, FDA, and product liability counsel across the full lifecycle, from protecting your invention through 510(k) or PMA clearance to commercialization and managing risk once the product ships.

Building a medical device means clearing two bars at once: protect the invention before someone copies it, and satisfy the FDA before you can sell it. We work with device companies, from first-prototype startups to established manufacturers, on the patents, regulatory submissions, and liability questions that decide whether your technology reaches patients and stays on the market.

Patents For Device Innovation

Device patents have to cover hardware, software, and method-of-use, often all in the same product. Our attorneys came out of engineering, so we draft claims that hold up to how the device actually works and how a competitor would design around it. We build utility and design portfolios, run freedom-to-operate analyses before you commit to a design, manage filings abroad, and litigate when a competitor crosses your claims.

FDA Regulatory Pathway

Picking the wrong regulatory route can cost you a year or more, so we help you choose it deliberately. We advise on whether your device fits a 510(k), De Novo, or PMA pathway, prepare and shepherd those submissions, paper your clinical trial and site agreements, and keep you aligned with post-market surveillance and reporting duties. We also map out approvals when you plan to sell outside the United States.

Product Liability And Risk

A cleared device still carries liability exposure once it is in clinical use. We help you build that risk in from the start, through labeling and instructions for use, supplier and quality agreements, and clear allocation of responsibility with manufacturers and distributors. If an adverse event or recall hits, we coordinate your reporting obligations, insurance response, and defense so a single incident does not become a market-wide problem.

Frequently asked questions

A 510(k) clearance based on substantial equivalence to a predicate device is generally faster and cheaper than a PMA, which requires clinical evidence for higher-risk devices and takes much longer. The pathway shapes both your timeline and your IP strategy, since a longer PMA runway gives competitors more time and makes patent timing and term more important. Map the regulatory route and the patent filings together so your exclusivity lines up with when you can actually sell.

You can typically patent the device's hardware, mechanisms, and methods of use, and software that drives the device may be patentable if it is a genuine technical improvement rather than an abstract idea. For the software and firmware, also use copyright and trade-secret protection, and be deliberate about any open-source components, since their licenses can carry obligations you do not want in a regulated product. Coordinating these protections matters because modern devices are as much software as hardware.

Product liability can reach the manufacturer for design defects, manufacturing defects, and inadequate warnings, and a device cleared by the FDA is not automatically immune. PMA-approved devices may benefit from federal preemption against certain state-law claims, but 510(k)-cleared devices generally do not get the same protection. Strong design history, validation, labeling, and post-market surveillance are your best defense, and your supplier and distributor contracts should allocate this risk through indemnification and insurance.

Commercialization triggers ongoing duties, including adverse-event reporting under MDR, complaint handling, quality-system requirements, and recall procedures if a problem emerges. Connected and software-driven devices add cybersecurity expectations and a need to manage updates without inadvertently creating a new device that requires re-clearance. Building these post-market processes before launch keeps a field issue from becoming a compliance failure on top of a product problem.

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