Brian P. Akers is a retired partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, where he was a member of the firm's IP Litigation Practice. Dr. Akers also is an M.D., board-certified in internal medicine, with an extensive background in the clinical sciences, biomedical sciences, and health care fields.
Dr. Akers devoted a majority of his time to intellectual property litigation. His patent litigation experience includes transdermal drug delivery systems for 3M, blood filtration systems for Lydall, Inc., gonadotropin infertility treatment methods for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., hemodynamic pharmaceuticals for Takeda, chip fab for Rockwell and Siemens, electronic fuel injection systems for Unisia JECS, passenger restraint systems thixotropic injection molding methods for Takata Corporation, and thermostatic water mixing valves for Bradley Corp.
Dr. Akers is co-inventor with a client (Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.) on a patented improvement in cardiac pacemaker design: U.S. Patent No. 6,115,632 (Dual Chamber Pulse Generator with Periodic PMT Control).
Dr. Akers also has litigated medically related cases for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (breast implants), Ford Motor Company (product liability), PennCorp Financial (pedicle screw reinsurance), British Airways (common carrier personal injury), the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin (transfusable blood products), and MassMutual Insurance Co. (professional disability coverage claims).
Dr. Akers has been Peer Review Rated as BV® Distinguished™, a mark of excellence in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system.
A graduate of Kenyon College (cum laude, 1971), Dr. Akers earned his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1975, was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1978, and took his J.D. from Stanford University in 1991. He was admitted to practice law in the state of Wisconsin and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin. Dr. Akers is an adjunct associate professor at Milwaukee School of Engineering's Rader School of Business where he teaches ethics courses in business and medical informatics. He is also assistant adjunct professor, Center for the Study of Bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.