Patents That Pay: IP Strategy for Med Device Companies in Women’s Health

What to patent, when to file, and how broadly to claim are commercial decisions disguised as legal ones. For a device company, a strong patent portfolio can help hold off fast followers, withstand investor diligence, and turn a single product into a defensible position. Built well, it can compound in value for years. Built badly, or built late, the gaps often surface in diligence, when they are expensive to explain and sometimes impossible to fix.

This session pairs a patent strategist with a founder who put that strategy into practice. In developing Yōni.Fit, the first patient-designed, non-surgical device for stress urinary incontinence, they built IP protection alongside the product using patents as part of the company’s strategy from innovation through commercialization.

Michele Van Patten Frank, patent strategist and former USPTO examiner, and Allison L. Watkins, Founder & CEO, Watkins-Conti Products, unpack the real-world IP decisions device companies face from prototype through commercialization and what it can cost to get them wrong.