Kevin E. Flynn

Still an engineer at heart, I help companies seek strong patent protection to arm against me-too products and stay clear of third-party patent rights.

I am the right choice for the right client, but not everyone needs the same sort of patent attorney.

Some clients want to just file something so that the client can say "patent pending" without caring about actually getting a useful patent. I am not a good fit for such clients as I want to be in it to win it.

Some clients want to file a patent application although they have no idea how to make the novel product. They see the patent process as a lottery ticket where you stake a claim for a type of product and hope for a big payoff. That is not how the system works and not how I work.

Some clients want to crank out lots of very narrow patent applications where the patent attorney essentially re-formats a fairly comprehensive invention disclosure form that has been vetted by the internal patent attorneys on a patent committee. They want someone to crank out narrow applications while minimizing expenses. They have reduced new patents to a numbers game as the company has lots of patents already. No budget for creativity. Someone with less skill than me can handle that routine work.

Some clients are building a business and know that having a strong set of patents will move the needle on the value of their company as strong patents will help protect margin and market share by keeping others from selling me-too products. They want a patent attorney that is an external team member that helps the company spend money wisely while seeking patents that have commercial significance. They want someone with sufficient engineering skills to understand their technology and communicate the technology to a patent examiner. This is the type of client that I am well-suited to help.

if you want an engineer with a broad set of skills to help you seek patents or stay clear of others' patent rights, then we should talk.

• Patents

• Free Consultation
  Selecting a patent attorney is a major decision as the process is expensive and you will need to work closely with your patent attorney. You should definitely check to ensure that you have good working chemistry with a patent attorney before deciding on an attorney. I am happy to talk with you about the process and the costs without charging you for this general information. This general discussion will not go into your invention in depth and the chances that your particular innovation will be deemed patentable over the relevant prior art.
• Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
  I have been doing patent work since 1992 and worked as an engineer for years before going to law school. My hourly rate is not as low as someone just out of law school. On the other hand, I am much more efficient than someone still learning the craft. You total cost is impacted by efficiency. As I own my firm, I can cut a bill when that is the right thing to do. Large firms often have lots of barriers to preclude cutting a bill even when the bill is larger than it should have been. My clients stay with me for years as they see my fees as reasonable in light of the value I provide.

New York

Since 1993

North Carolina

North Carolina State Bar

ID Number: 23395

Since 1996

United State Patent & Trademark Office

Since 1993

Patent Attorney

FLYNN IP LAW

2011 - Current

In 2011, founded a law firm to provide specialized legal advice regarding intellectual property, particularly domestic and foreign patent rights, and related business issues. NOTE -- the legal name of the firm is The Law Offices of Kevin E. Flynn, PLLC.

Patent Attorney

The Eclipse Group

2005 - 2011

Joined The Eclipse Group LLP, a national law firm of seasoned attorneys that specialize in intellectual property with an aim to provide exceptional results at reasonable rates. Helped create and maintain a large portfolio of patents relating to spine surgery and spinal implants. Worked with a number of other medical device clients. Worked to manage patent firms outside of the United States to help clients acquire patent assets in both the US and abroad.

Patent Attorney

Daniels Daniels & Verdonik

1998 - 2005

Patent attorney at a firm that specialized in helping set up and support the growth of high technology companies. Obtained extensive experience helping companies examine patent issues for the first time. Helped companies prioritize IP expenditures to get the most bang for their limited budget. Handles all aspects of patent prosecution from strategy and initial patent drafting through the patent prosecution in both the United States and outside the United States.

Patent Attorney

Moore & Van Allen

1996 - 1998

Patent litigation and patent prosecution, general intellectual property counseling for a range of clients from small start-ups to sizeable longstanding companies.

Patent Litgation Associate

Fish & Neave

1992 - 1996

Patent attorney, primarily patent litigation support for large patent litigation such as the disputes between Altera and Xilinx; also wrote patent applications and responses to office actions from patent agencies; opinion work on scope of claim coverage and infringement or non-infringement.

Engineer -- series of positions with increasing responsibility.

Duke Power Company - Now Duke Energy

1982 - 1989

Series of postions over years working with industrial equipment to generate electricity, instruments to measure thermodynamic performance, computer systems to monitor and control projects. Obtained North Carolina Professional Engineer License while working for Duke Power.

Duke University School of Law

J.D. (1992)

1989 - 1992

Honors: Graduated cum laude Winner of Melvin G. Shimm Award for work as Articles Editor.

Activities: Editor on Law Journal - Law & Contemporary Problems.

California State University - San Jose State University

M.S. (1985) | Industrial & Systems Engineering

1984 - 1985

Honors: Graduated summa cum laude and admitted into Tau Beta Pi

Duke University

B.S. (1982) | Completed the requirements for a BSE in both Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

1978 - 1982

Honors: Elected Dormitory President 1978.

Patents I wrote were allowed and Issued

United States Patent & Trademark Office

2016

I am most proud of the work I do for my clients to draft and often obtain patents that describe and claim their inventions. The award link takes you to the USPTO site to see a sample of my issued patents.

AV Preeminent®--the highest rating awarded

Martindale-Hubbell

2011

The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ help you, the consumer of legal services, identify, evaluate and select the appropriate lawyer for your legal issue. Peer Review Ratings™ identify lawyers with the highest ethical standards and professional ability. The ratings can be a useful aid when hiring an attorney.

Named as being in the Legal Elite for the category of Patents

Business North Carolina

2004

Since 2002, Business North Carolina magazine has honored Tar Heel lawyers by publishing Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite, a listing of the state’s top lawyers in business-related categories. Winners are chosen not by BNC editors but by the state’s lawyers. Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite has become the model for other awards and lists, but it remains unique as the only award that gives every active lawyer in the state the opportunity to participate. Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite includes the top lawyers chosen using this statewide ballot. Each year, BNC sends ballot notices to every member of the N.C. State Bar living in North Carolina — asking each a simple question: Of the Tar Heel lawyers whose work you have observed firsthand, whom would you rate among the current best in these categories? Voters are not allowed to vote for themselves. They may select members of their firms only if they pick out-of-firm lawyers in the same categories, with the latter votes weighted more heavily. The top vote-getter in each category becomes a member of Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite Hall of Fame and is ineligible to win again.

Granted Admission to Tau Beta Pi for my work while a graduate student at San Jose State University

Tau Beta Pi - The Engineering Honor Society

1985

Admitted 1985 for my work while seeking masters degree in engineering in for Industrial and Systems Engineering at San Jose State University, San Jose, California.

Biomedical Engineering Society

Member

2017 - Current

North Carolina State Bar  # 23395

Member

1996 - Current

Activities: Member of 15B Judicial District (Orange and Chatham Counties)

North Carolina State Bar Association  # 22186

Member

1996 - Current

Activities: Member - Intellectual Property Law Section.

North Carolina Bar Association-Section on Intellectual Property Law

Member

1996 - Current

North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association

2013 - 2017

Samples of Issued Patents

United States Patent and Trademark Office

September 26, 2017

Provisional Patent Applications, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

North Carolina Small Business Technology Develpment Center

April 26, 2017

Patent Searching for Entrepreneurs

Triange TechBreakfast Lecture Series

October 27, 2016

Protecting Your Competitive Advantages

Presentation at You Grow Girl Annual Business Summit

October 21, 2016

CREATE ACT -- New Legistlation Protects Joint Resarch Efforts, But With a Price

WRAL TechWire

February 2, 2005

Provisional Patent Applications,The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly , SBTDC Webinar , Webinar

April 27, 2017

SBTDC (North Carolina Small Business Technology Development Center)

Address the proper use of a provisional patent application and the problems when an inadequate disclosure is submitted.

Patent Issues for Triangle Angels Partners. , Presentation to Monthly Meeting of Triangle Angel Partners , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

January 10, 2017

Triangle Angel Partners

Overview of intellectual property tools and strategies.

Protecting Your Competitive Advantages. , You Grow Girl Annual Business Summit , Charlotte, North Carolina

October 15, 2016

Discuss the concept of a competitive advantage and the various intellectual property tools for protecting the competitive advantages.

Teach entrepreneurs DIY skills with online tools for patent searching.

Patent Searching for Entrepreneurs , Triangle TechBreakfast Event at RTP Frontier , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

March 16, 2016

Triangle TechBreakfast

Teach entrepreneurs DIY skills with online tools for patent searching.

Patent Primer for Non-Patent Attorneys , Law to the People - Continuing Education Webinar for Attorneys , Webinar

June 3, 2015

Law to the People

Three-hour continuing education course for attorneys to explain patent concepts.

AV Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated

Results of Peer Reviews compiled by Martindale-Hubbell

Professional Engineer License (now expired)

North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors

Registration as Patent Attorney

United States Patent & Trademark Office

Q. Is the patent still valid and can someone build this system outside USA?

7 July 2020

A: A United States Patent Applies to the United States. A United States Patent applies to actions in the United States. So making a product in China and importing to the US would be covered. Also making a product in the US and exporting to Canada would be covered. However, a product made in China could be sold into Canada as long as it does not pass through the US on the way to Canada. Many companies seek patents in other countries that match the patent that they have in their home country. So it is possible that there are similar patents on this product in other countries. You can sometimes find related patents by looking for details on patent families in a system like Patentscope at WIPO. But this is not foolproof as there may have been parallel filings which might not show up as family members. Best bet is to ask a patent attorney in the country of interest to see if there is an analogous patent. The patent attorney can look by title, inventor, assignee, and use other tricks. If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338 Kevin E Flynn

Q. Hello, I would like to enquire if using a specific type of solid fuel in a piston engine is uniquely patentable?

7 July 2020

A: This is a public forum and not the place to share your innovative concepts. I encourage you to share the nuances of your idea only with a patent attorney that you are interviewing to hire. The attorney-client privilege attaches early so you can share confidential information to interview attorneys. Thus, the attorney will ask you for a high level description before you share any secrets. It should be enough to say a piston engine using solid fuel to see if there are conflicts. If it would be non-obvious to use that specific fuel in a piston engine or if you have to modify the engine to use that fuel, then it is very possible that this idea is patentable. To have a better understanding, one would need to look at the relevant prior art to see how much the prior art suggests what you did. I hope that this helps. Kevin E Flynn

Q. Can two patent application have exactly the same title? If so, can you give one example?

4 July 2020

A: There is no rule prohibiting two patents from issuing with the same title. What is unique about a patent is the patent number and the patent claims. I do not have an example in my issued patents as I go out of my way to avoid using the same title as I find it confusing to have more than one with the same title. Run this Google Patent search and you will see lots of design patents issued for can openers. Many have the title -- Can opener. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=pts&sxsrf=ALeKk00eaXGh1Z45Ry4hHMpFLNaGbVfnzg%3A1593887669328&source=hp&ei=tcsAX6qWEIavytMPm4eh2Ao&q=ornamental+design+can+opener&oq=ornamental+design+can+opener&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKsCOgcIIxDqAhAnOgQIIxAnOgUIABCRAjoFCAAQsQM6BAgAEEM6BQgAEIMBOgIIADoHCAAQsQMQQzoGCAAQFhAeOggIABAWEAoQHjoHCCEQChCgAToICCEQFhAdEB5Q7xFYg_ABYIT1AWgJcAB4AIAB5wSIAbQakgEIMzIuMy41LTGYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6sAEK&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjqxNqinrTqAhWGl3IEHZtDCKsQ4dUDCAg&uact=5 I hope that this helps. Kevin E Flynn