Ryan Flax joined Dickstein Shapiro in September 1999 and is counsel in the Intellectual Property Practice. Mr. Flax’s practice focuses on patent law, concentrating primarily in the life sciences, including medical devices, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and chemical technologies. He also has extensive experience in the mechanical, Internet and software, and semiconductor arts, as well as design and plant patents. His practice includes IP litigation, client counseling and education, prosecution of patent applications, patent interference practice, intellectual property valuation and opinion work, the protection of intellectual property in view of labor concerns, and technology transfer. Mr. Flax also has experience in the law of trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights.

In his IP practice, Mr. Flax has represented the following clients: 

• Micron Technology, Inc
• Raytheon UTD, Inc.
• E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
• Merit Industries, Inc.
• Ricoh Company, Ltd.
• Omron Corporation
• Arthrex
• Pacific Medical, Inc.
• Eisai R&D Management Co., LTD.
• AutoMeter
• CV Therapeutics
• Dunkin’ Donuts
• Lucent Technologies
• Sega Corporation
• Agere Systems
• Alpharma USHP Inc.
• Iowa State University
• The Johns Hopkins University
• Erbe USA and ERBE Elektromedzin GmbH
• ShuffleMaster Incorporated
• Columbia Music Entertainment Inc. 

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

In his litigation practice, Mr. Flax has represented clients such as Bruce N. Saffran, Ph.D., M.D.; Dunkin’ Donuts; and Alpharma USHP Inc. in federal district courts, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in state district court. Most notable is the 2008 jury award of more than $501 million to inventor and radiologist Dr. Bruce Saffran for Boston Scientific Corporation’s infringement of his patent relating to a drug-delivering layer (Saffran v. Boston Scientific Corp. (E.D. Tex. February 14, 2008)). 

Mr. Flax has obtained patent and trademark protection for clients’ valuable intellectual property assets across a wide array of industries and technologies, including medical devices, biotechnology, nanotechnology, semiconductors, automotive industry, and chemical/pharmaceutical technology. He has extensive experience in U.S. and foreign/international patent prosecution.

Mr. Flax has drafted numerous legal opinions regarding product clearance, infringement, non-infringement, invalidity, patentability, and enforceability for clients; such legal opinions have spanned a wide array of technologies and played an important role in the business decisions of those clients.

Mr. Flax also has extensive experience drafting and negotiating contracts and licenses covering the valuable intellectual property of his clients and has prepared and negotiated contracts and licenses so that his clients may utilize the intellectual property of other parties.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Flax was employed as a scientist with the Research & Development Division of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he conducted DNA adduct research concerning the bio-activity of new and emerging products, specifically researching the genotoxic potential of mainstream smoke from test tobacco cigarettes that primarily heat, rather than burn, tobacco as compared to control tobacco-burning cigarettes. At RJRT, he also was involved in the development, presentation, and marketing of new products.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Mr. Flax is admitted to practice in Maryland (1999), the District of Columbia (2000), and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He also is admitted and qualified to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Mr. Flax is a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association and serves as an active member on its Trade Secrets Committee. He is also a member of the American Bar Association; Bar Association of Montgomery County, Maryland; American Intellectual Property Law Association; and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. In 2002, he was nominated for the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court Scholarship Award. He is also an active member of several practice committees of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Author, “Construction Of Ordinary Terms ‘Only If’ They Are Disputed: O2 Micro Int’l Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Tech. Co., Ltd.,” Maryland State Bar Association Annual IP Law Update, Vol. II (June 12, 2009)
• Author, “Patent Counsel Adjust to the Post-‘KSR’ Landscape,” 30 Nat’l L.J. S2 (Col. 1)(December 3, 2007)
• Presenter, “Copyright Law,” University of Baltimore Law School (April 1, 2005)
• Presenter, “Basics of Copyright Law,” Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (February 16, 2005)
• Author, “Federal Circuit Upholds ‘Two-Way’ Test to Determine Whether a Patent Interference Exists,” 10 Intell. Prop. Today 22 (2003), also published in IP News (Dickstein Shapiro LLP), (Aug. 2003)
• Contributor, Thronson et al., Intellectual Property Legal Opinions (2000)
• Author, “NAFTA & the Patent Systems of Its Members: Is There Potential for a Unification of the North American Patent Systems?”, 5 NAFTA: L. & Bus. Rev. Am . 461 (Summer 1999)

EDUCATION

Mr. Flax received his B.S. in biology from Wake Forest University (1995), and his J.D., cum laude, from the Southern Methodist University School of Law (1999), where he was a member and symposium editor of the SMU International Law Review Association.