Procuring Design Patents for the World’s Most Innovative and Design-Driven Companies
January 20, 2010—Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., a national intellectual property law firm that is dedicated to the procurement, enforcement and litigation of intellectual property rights throughout the world, has again prosecuted the most U.S. design patents to issuance by a law firm in a calendar year.
December 31, 2009 marked the seventh consecutive year that Banner & Witcoff has procured more design patents than any other law firm. The firm procured 890 design patents on behalf of its clients in 2009, which is 130 more design patents than the combined total of design patents procured by the second, third and fourth place law firms. This brings the total number of design patents procured by Banner & Witcoff in the last decade to 4,400, more than double the amount of design patents obtained by the second place firm.
“This has been another exceptional year for our design team thanks to our design-driven clients who continue to understand the importance of vigorously procuring design patent rights, even in a tough economic climate,” —Robert S. Katz, principal shareholder at Banner & Witcoff.
Microsoft, NIKE, Nokia, PepsiCo and Toshiba collectively accounted for the majority of design patents procured by Banner & Witcoff in 2009. The firm also added several new design patent clients in 2009 including Alside and Spectrum Brands.
Katz also notes that 2008 and 2009 have been landmark years for design patent law. “The 2008 Federal Circuit ruling in the Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa case was the most important design patent decision rendered in the last 20 years. The recent Federal Circuit ruling in International Seaway Trading Corp. v. Walgreens Corporation also shows that more design laws may be shifting. While we have yet to see the full impact of the Egyptian Goddess and Seaway decisions, we expect 2010 to be another significant year for design patent law.”
Please direct all media inquiries to Colleen Strasser at 312-463-5465 or cstrasser@bannerwitcoff.com.
Posted: January 20, 2010
