Issue: A Fortune 500 manufacturer of surgical consoles was losing sales on disposables related to the unit because a competitor's patent blocked their use of an optical adaptor. 'Design-around' solutions were deemed impossible by the company's large R&D organization and several of their corporate patent attorneys.

Solution: Patent barrier defeating methods were systematically employed to describe the adaptor in terms of its elemental functions. Solutions to modify claim element means were found from completely different industries and adapted to the design element functions in order to create new configurations for the adaptor.

Result: Fourteen different design variations were discovered which were very close to the target patent design but did not infringe. A final design was selected, found acceptable by the corporate attorney staff, and presented to R&D. The new adaptor met all the product design specifications and did not infringe the barrier patent.

InvenGen and our members who provides these patent barrier defeating services are inventors of over 80 patents using these methods. We can help you navigate around your tough patent barrier challenges.