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Patent & IP attorney (and former practicing physician), Dr. Steven Miller

I help biotechnology and medical device inventors develop and manage their patent strategy and get on the right path to building a successful company.

Working with scientist-inventors I help to identify, protect, develop, and financially leverage patent and intellectual property rights relevant to larger business goals.

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Working together with clients nationwide

Intellectual property attorney, Steven Miller, from head to waist grayscale photo

Patent Attorney

Patent + IP Services

Steven Miller, M.D., J.D.

testimonials

Legal and medical association memberships: Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, Boston Patent Law Association, American Medical Association, American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Association

Protect, Develop, and Monetize Your Brainchild with an Experienced Biotechnology & Medical Device Patent Attorney

As a seasoned biotechnology and medical device patent and intellectual property attorney, and former practicing physician, working with together with clients nationwide, Dr. Miller brings intimate knowledge of (1) the industry; (2) the technology space; and (3) relevance of an invention within the technology space given the larger commercial context.

Dr. Miller is dedicated to drafting the most robust disclosures in a patent application, and to claim your inventions in both broad and specific terms, depending on your market goals and extent of the prior art.

Dr. Miller brings a unique perspective to intellectual property development within the medical device and biotechnology spaces. Dr. Miller founded IPath IP in 2019 as a vehicle to provide personalized legal services related to intellectual property and business development for early-stage startups.

Working with scientist-inventors to identify, capture, develop, and financially leverage intellectual property rights relevant to larger business goals forms the core of his experience. This includes patent drafting and prosecution, coordinating with outside counsel, due diligence activities, and development of policies to identify and protect “know-how” as trade secrets. In addition to prosecution and active management of global patent portfolios for large pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the U.S. and internationally, Dr. Miller is versed in transactional work, negotiations, and counseling on trademark and copyright matters. Clients find him open and personable.

Protect, Develop, and Monetize Your Brainchild

Schedule a Discussion

Let's talk... You have created something beneficial and new. Let’s discuss legal and other practical aspects involved with protecting, developing, and monetizing your brainchild. Schedule a fully confidential virtual meeting where we can discuss the legal and business aspects of bringing a medical device or biotechnology product to market, and answer general questions related to your concept.

Working together with clients nationwide

IPath and Dr. Steven Miller Difference

Legal + Medical Experience

As an experienced attorney and former practicing surgeon, Dr. Miller leverages his expansive legal, clinical, basic science, and industry knowledge to best position his clients for success in the medical device and biotechnology spaces.

Concierge-Level Service

One size never fits all. All clients have unique talent, resources, and business goals–and deserve intellectual property (IP) services tailored specifically to their singular situation. Clients of IPath IP receive skilled advocacy, expert advice, and the highest quality work product specific to their company and innovations. Importantly, clients consistently find Dr. Miller to be diligent, thorough, available, and to communicate in a forthright, friendly, and clear manner.

Fraction of the Cost

Funding and deciding how to best allocate financial resources is critical for startups and early-stage technology companies. Retaining a reputable intellectual property / commercial law attorney in the Boston, New York, Silicon Valley, or Orange County markets can cost over $1,200/hour. IPath IP provides its clients with an equal or greater level of technical, legal, and industry insight for substantially less while working with its clients to determine and prioritize activities most likely to increase corporate valuation.

Patent & IP Management Services

We provide a suite of patent services to assist with developing and managing all aspects of your intellectual property, domestically and globally. Every company has different goals and challenges. We provide specific services and support tailored to your unique situation.

Patent Drafting and Prosecution

A patent application consists of a written Specification, Drawings, Claims, and a very short Abstract summarizing the invention. Claims precisely define the metes and bounds–the extent of protection–for your claimed invention. As such, skilled claim writing is critical and every word is important. Fortunately, claims can be amended (changed, deleted, new claims added) during “prosecution” of your patent application–the back-and-forth legal argument between your patent attorney and an Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office who decides whether to allow your claims to issue as a patent.

Claim amendments, however, are strictly limited by law to the disclosures found in the written Specification and Drawings... neither of which can be substantively changed after the application has been filed.

Such intimate knowledge of (1) the industry; (2) the technology space; and (3) relevance of an invention within the technology space given the larger commercial context enable Dr. Miller to draft the most robust disclosures in a patent application, and to claim your inventions in both broad and specific terms, depending on your market goals and extent of the prior art.

Do you have kids? Think of the Specification as a bucket of Legos®. Each claim is something cool constructed by combining the individual blocks from the Specification bucket in various different and creative ways. When the Patent Examiner issues an Office Action rejecting some or all of the claims filed with the application, your attorney can amend the rejected claim(s) using claim elements, i.e., “blocks,” which can be removed, new blocks/elements added, and other rearrangements made, limited only by disclosures made in the Specification and Drawings. Perhaps by removing a warp-drive engine and adding a quantum spatial transporter, to the extent these “blocks” are available in your Specification “bucket,” the Examiner will allow patent claims for your (Lego®) Spaceship! Although playful, this metaphor illustrates the importance of a detailed, comprehensive, and well-thought-out Specification disclosing all foreseeable iterations of your claimed invention.

Over his eight years of practicing patent law, Dr. Miller has drafted and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications.
Working with clients in Boston, Arizona, Orange County, Silicon Valley, New York, and elsewhere throughout the U.S. and Europe, and via non-client industry contacts, he has evolved an extensive knowledge of many aspects of the large, complicated, competitive, and ever-evolving medical device art space.
After nearly twenty years in clinical medicine, Dr. Miller understands the scope to which new innovations in the medical device and biotechnology spaces can be applicable.

Over his eight years of practicing patent law, Dr. Miller has drafted and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications.
Working with clients in Boston, Arizona, Orange County, Silicon Valley, New York, and elsewhere throughout the U.S. and Europe, and via non-client industry contacts, he has evolved an extensive knowledge of many aspects of the large, complicated, competitive, and ever-evolving medical device art space.
After nearly twenty years in clinical medicine, Dr. Miller understands the scope to which new innovations in the medical device and biotechnology spaces can be applicable.

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Filings & Coordination

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) provides a forum under which an applicant can file for patent protection in multiple countries, including the United States, based on a single application. The World Intellectual Property Association (“WIPO”) states “By filing an international patent application under the PCT, applications can simultaneously seek protection for an invention in a large number of countries.” Currently, 154 countries on six continents are signatories to the PCT.

There are many advantages to filing a PCT application which an applicant may not know or a patent attorney lacking experience with these applications may not fully appreciate.

By leveraging his knowledge, experience, and existing relationships with other patent attorneys internationally, Dr. Miller will do everything possible to afford you all the benefits of a PCT application while coordinating and streamlining prosecution of national stage applications in multiple countries at the lowest possible cost.

For example, applicants receive a preliminary search and Patentability Opinion from the selected International Search Authority within sixteen (16) months of filing a PCT application. Information found in the Patentability Opinion can inform the applicant’s attorney how best to amend claims and/or present arguments before the application enters “national stage” prosecution in the applicant’s designated countries. In this way, an experienced patent attorney will advantageously use the Patentability Opinion as a head start on prosecution.

There is no such thing as a “worldwide” patent. Obtaining patents in multiple countries can quickly become very expensive. Patent protection will be desirable in some countries but unnecessary in others where the applicant has no plans to either market or manufacture its invention. A PCT application provides added value here because the PCT applicant is not required to enter national stage prosecution in any country until thirty (30) months after filing the initial application. This allows the applicant a full two and one-half years to research and determine market potential for its invention in select countries and regions (including the United States) before choosing individual countries where it will produce or sell its technology, thus establishing a need for patent protection in these jurisdictions.

The PCT system operates under legal rules promulgated by WIPO. These rules are complicated, strictly enforced, and distinct from the rules governing patent prosecution non-PCT applications at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patent prosecution in countries outside of the U.S. requires coordinating services with attorneys and law firms native to each specific jurisdiction. Ideally, some knowledge of patent law within other jurisdictions, such as Europe, South Korea, Australia, and Brazil, for example, is useful to expedite prosecution and minimize client costs.

Medical device with buttons and tubs close-up in hospital ward

Intellectual Property Strategy & Counseling

Although filing a patent application is often (but not always!) an essential step, protecting an invention never begins and ends here. As you build a company around your innovations, it is critical to promptly identify and decide how to protect all aspects of your intellectual property. This can rapidly become expensive. Consequently, deciding on a rational and comprehensive value-focused IP strategy is very important.

From developing a portfolio of utility and design patents, decisions regarding protection in overseas markets, applicable trade secret policies, branding activities including trademarks and trade dress, copyrights for a variety of generated media, and a host of due-diligence activities–we can help you decide if, when, where, and how to invest your budgeted resources at the earliest possible time.

Protect, Develop, and Monetize Your Brainchild

Schedule a Discussion

Working together with clients nationwide

intellectual property attorney

Steven J. Miller, M.D., J.D.

After receiving his Medical Degree from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Dr. Miller moved to Seattle where he completed a residency in general surgery at the University of Washington. He then spent nearly 20 years as a busy practicing surgeon before leaving clinical medicine to attend law school. Since receiving his law degree from the Phoenix School of Law in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Miller worked as an intellectual property attorney for major law firms in Phoenix and Boston with domestic and international clients, with a focus in the medical device and biotechnology art spaces. In addition to serving clients of IPath IP, Dr. Miller serves as Senior Advisor for the medical device group of a Boston-based intellectual property data research and analytics company.

testimonials + REVIEWS

What Clients Say...

The depth of knowledge of the various legal approaches combined with the clinical hands-on experience is unparalleled and often has a bonus benefit of making a better device with stronger patent protection!

Josh E.

Principle Consultant

Steven is super-responsive, unbelievably thorough and surprisingly affordable for the top-tier work he delivers. He has almost been like an in-house trademark counsel and I highly recommend him.

Mike H.

Product Development

Steven's experience as a MD and as an intellectual property attorney, proved to be vital as he counseled us through the intricacies of revising and refining our claim. He continually provided vital information and guidance which was critical for making the strategic decisions needed not only to protect our technology but in preparation for future patents. Steve offers a level of service that far surpassed our expectations and does so at a much more reasonable price.

Pauline C.

CEO

Dr. Miller’s legal expertise combined with his knowledge of being a surgeon was a definite bonus. This unique combination of skills and knowledge helped guide us through the complex world of medical device IP and regulatory processes. He offers a “concierge”-type service and the kicker is that he offers this senior attorney-level work at fraction of cost charged by partners at large firms.

Scott m., DO

CEO