Knobbe Martens Partners Gerard von Hoffmann and Bryan Wahl Recognized as Innovators of the Year
Knobbemedical.com, a no-cost cooperative portal that provides startup medical device companies access to comprehensive legal and supplementary resources useful for new ventures or product launches, has been commended by The Recorder as an important innovation in delivering legal services to clientele. Gerard von Hoffmann and Bryan Wahl, MD, partners at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, one of the largest intellectual property law firm in the US, have been recognized on The Recorder’s inaugural list of California’s 25 Top Legal Innovators for their outstanding contributions to the profession through the launch of KnobbeMedical.com.
Gerard von Hoffmann is a partner in the firm’s Orange County and Silicon Valley offices. He focuses on client practice in the medical device industry, including offensive and defensive competitive strategies, infringement studies, financings, strategic transactions and patent portfolio development. KnobbeMedical.com was developed by von Hoffmann and a team of Knobbe Martens medical device IP practitioners as a platform to share relevant industry information, free of charge, with emerging medical device companies. The site offers the most current thought leadership and up-to-date industry developments to assist medical device startups in creating an informed business strategy. The site also provides helpful suggestions and practical considerations to assist individuals launching new medical device companies. The site has had approximately 19,200 unique visitors from January 2013 through this past August.
Bryan Wahl, MD, co-manages KnobbeMedical.com with von Hoffmann to coordinate the creation of new content with Knobbe partners, associates, and staff members on the KnobbeMedical.com team. Dr. Wahl is a partner in Orange County and has experience with building and evaluating patent portfolios for start-up medical device companies. Dr. Wahl has represented clients in a variety of technical fields including aesthetic, bariatric, cardiovascular, gynecologic, imaging, neurologic, orthopedic, and pulmonary devices.
Knobbe Martens’ team of attorneys have guided medical device start-ups in all stages of development from inception through venture financing, transactional due diligence, patent landscape (or “market clearance”) evaluations, strategic patent prosecution, licensing and other IP agreements, IP audits, initial public offerings or acquisition, and, when necessary, IP litigation. Their expertise has been developed over decades of medical device law practice, having filed more than 5,000 patent applications in the medical device arts alone.
With over 275 lawyers and scientists nationwide, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP dedicates its practice to all aspects of intellectual property law including litigation. Consistently ranked among the top intellectual property firms worldwide, Knobbe Martens serves a diverse group of clients from multinational corporations to emerging businesses of all stages. Headquartered in Orange County, California, Knobbe Martens also has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Washington, D.C. More information about the firm can be found at www.knobbe.com.
