Haynes Boone Secures Favorable Design Patent Ruling for Client SurgiSil

A Haynes and Boone, LLP team secured a win yesterday on behalf of SurgiSil, LLP, convincing the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that a design patent application for a lip implant should not have been rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), despite the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirming the rejection.

The Federal Circuit’s ruling is significant because it clarifies the scope of a design patent claim, confirming that a design claim is limited to the article of manufacture identified in the claim.

The ruling has received widespread coverage, including in Bloomberg and Law360.

Dallas Partners Alan Herda and Vera Suarez were the lead patent attorneys. Washington, D.C., Associate Angela Oliver was the lead appellate lawyer in the case and argued before the Federal Circuit; Angela was supported by Dallas IP Litigation Partners Debbie McComas and Russ Emerson. 

Haynes Boone’s Patents Practice Group provides clients with a full range of services to protect and profit from their intellectual property. Lawyers in the group have filed more than 19,000 applications in the U.S. and abroad in the past five years, offering clients sophisticated counseling and portfolio management, as well as representation in post-grant proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), litigation in federal courts and cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). In 2021, Chambers USA, Chambers & Partners, recognized Haynes Boone as "particularly esteemed for its USPTO practice," and Intellectual Asset Management, Globe White Page Ltd, included 14 partners in the firm among their Patent 1000 list of top IP lawyers in the world.

Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City, and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With more than 600 lawyers, Haynes Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer. It was recognized for excellence in the BTI Consulting Group’s 2021 “A-Team” report, which identifies the law firms that in-house counsel commend for providing superior client service.


The following publications reported on the win:

Life Sciences IP Review