At Cook Alex, our greatest satisfaction is seeing our clients patents hit the market and become successful products. It’s our passion and why we’re in business. It’s what we work hard to achieve with our clients.
Here are a couple of success stories involving patents we’ve gotten for clients in the field of chemical sensors:
Combination smoke, propane and carbon monoxide detector (U.S. Patent No. 7,248,156)
Our client, a Chicago-area manufacturer of safety equipment for boats and RV’s, invented a device for simultaneously detecting life-threatening airborne substances such as smoke, carbon monoxide and combustible gases like propane. The device uses visual and audible alarms to signal the presence of those substances, and when more than one is present, the device gives priority signals for which substance should be alleviated first. (Hint: propane explodes, so get out fast; with smoke and carbon dioxide, there’s time to locate the source).
A large conglomerate with a boat and RV equipment division tried to sell our client’s customers the same type of detectors, but for much cheaper, and tried to run our client out of business. Our client sued, and despite attacks on the patent’s validity, the patent held up and our client was able to maintain its customer base while collecting royalties on the conglomerate’s sales of devices covered by the patent.
Thin film gas sensor configuration (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,228,725 and 7,565,827)
A California technology start-up, with a license to commercialize pioneering hydrogen detector technology developed at a national laboratory, needed patent protection for the innovations embodied in products to be sold to large industrial customers. Together with the company’s technical staff, our attorney conducted an initial assessment of the core technologies that differentiated and made the company’s hydrogen detectors superior to those already in existence. Within a few weeks, the company had four patent applications on file, which eventually matured into patents covering the key innovative aspects of the company’s product line. With strong U.S. and foreign patent protection in place, the company was able to attract early-stage investors, who provided capital to bring the company’s products to market. The company was also able to maintain and expand its customer base, with the company’s patents serving as a deterrent to competitors wishing to sell similar hydrogen detectors.
As patent attorneys with decades of technical and legal experience, we’re adept at helping technology developers to identify the key patentable aspects of their developments. Investors and competitors know that a company’s patents help to define its market power. Cook Alex understands what it takes to secure patents that will be honored within the industry and help the patented products succeed in the marketplace.
Please check back with us soon for more patent success stories, both from within our firm and from the outside as well.
Recent Comments