Practice Areas & Industries: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC performs intellectual property work for a variety of materials science industries that include ceramic, metallurgical and polymer science.

The Materials Science Group includes several attorneys who are former patent examiners and who hold advanced degrees in metallurgical engineering or materials science and engineering. It also includes active members in related professional organizations such as the American Society of Metals and the Licensing Executives Society.

Areas of Focus

Our attorneys and patent professionals have particular experience in:

• Alloy compositions, including ferrous alloys (low-carbon steels, medium- and high-carbon steels, specialty steels, stainless steels such as ferritic, austenitic and martensitic stainless steels, tool steels), nonferrous alloys (aluminum, copper, magnesium, titanium, zirconium, nickel, cobalt, precious metals, refractory metals), intermetallics, brazing, welding and soldering compositions, and thermo/mechanical processing of metals.
• Ceramics and glasses, including sol gel applications, coatings, fibers, cutting tools, dental applications, magnetic ceramics, superconducting ceramics, electronic materials, oxide materials (silica, alumina, ceria, titania, zirconia, yttria), carbon-based materials (silicon carbide, boron carbide, tungsten carbide, fullerenes, diamondoids), single crystal and polycrystalline silicon, nitride/carbonitride materials and liquid crystal materials.
• Metallurgical products, including medical devices (stents, guide wires, shape memory components), magnetic materials, ceramic superconducting components, hydrogen storage materials, fuel cell materials, nanocrystalline materials, catalysts and nuclear reactor components.
• Polymers and monomers, including polyolefins, polyamides, polyimides, polyurethanes, polyesters, absorbent polymers, polymer resins, heterocyclic polymers, epoxies, ceramic precursors, transition metal olefin polymerization, cationic polymerization, conducting polymers and photoresists.
• Powder metallurgical processing, including powder production via atomization and ball milling, compaction into shaped articles, sintering (reactive, liquid phase, solid state), heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing to consolidate and densify powder compositions.
• Semiconductor processing, including chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, plasma etching and vacuum reactor components.
• Fuel cells, including components, structures, and assemblies.

Services Available

In addition to handling many facets of patent procurement, our attorneys have experience in enforcement and client counseling, including:

• Litigation in the federal courts of U.S. patents on semi-solid alloys, cemented carbide cutting tools, processes for coating steel, ceramic or hard metal bodies, processes for making zirconium tubing, tool cutting insert design, saw blade technology and silica particles.
• Interferences, reexamination and reissue proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Representing clients before the International Trade Commission.
• Written and oral ex parte appeals in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Due diligence and portfolio evaluations.
• Invalidity, infringement and freedom-to-use opinions.