Blake P. Hurt

“Nothing gives me greater joy than getting involved with individual inventors or early-stage businesses and working with innovators to provide them the tools to realize their visions for a better world.”

Blake Hurt provides his clients with responsive counsel and value through listening to his clients’ objectives and helping them realize their goals through a strategic approach to overcoming roadblocks and enhancing the client experience.  His goal is to incentivize his clients to innovate new products, brands, and businesses by aiding them in securing protection for their innovations and then assisting in the maintenance and enforcement of the resulting assets, ensuring that their great value is fully realized.

Blake focuses his practice exclusively on intellectual property, with the most important areas including the preparation and prosecution of patent, copyright, and trademark applications, the maintenance and enforcement of patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and the licensing and transfer of patents, copyrights, and trademarks and related applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and copyrights before the U.S. Copyright Office.  Additionally, he advises clients on the merits of seeking international IP protection by filing PCT utility patent applications, Hague System design patent applications, and Madrid Protocol trademark applications.  He also provides prior art and patentability searches, authors freedom-to-operate and clearance opinions, and gives opinions as to patent infringement/non-infringement and trademark and service mark registerability and infringement.  Blake is also experienced and efficient at enforcing client intellectual property rights against potential infringers, advocating for his clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TTAB) and the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB).

Some recent examples of work he’s done on behalf of his clients include:

• A large local hamburger restaurant was named “The Best Burger in America” by Trip Advisor, Blake was able to secure federal registration for their business name, as well as their distinctive graphic logos, allowing them to expand rapidly into other markets.
• A small medical device manufacturer has begun to disrupt the personal respiratory device market with a highly-effective and low-cost vibratory, positive-expiratory pressure device, on which Blake has already successfully prosecuted and procured one patent and is currently in pursuit of additional patents.
• Blake recently concluded a protracted opposition proceeding before the TTAB for a manufacturing client battling an overseas brand infringer, culminating in a rare oral argument victory before the Board.

Recent Representative Matters:

Blake’s educational background in biology and chemistry, coupled with his professional experience in the mechanical arts give him a broad knowledge base on which to draw upon the service of his diverse client base.

• Managed an international manufacturer of camping accessories in the development of a utility and design patent portfolio for deterrence against counterfeiting from competitors, both domestically and abroad.
• Aided local furniture company in the comprehensive development of a patent and trademark portfolio including numerous foreign patents stemming from the PCT process and international trademarks stemming from the Madrid Protocol system.
• Secured utility patent on flagship respiratory therapy device for early-stage company, facilitating the acquisition of significant market share in a multi-billion dollar industry.
• Prosecuted to issuance multiple utility patents in favor of local antimicrobial manufacturer, leveraging the intellectual property to the $20 million acquisition of the company.
• Routinely drafts, prosecutes, and obtains utility patents, both domestically and abroad for an industry-leading textile manufacturer.

Outside of the Office

When not in the office, Blake spends his time with his daughter Kristin and his son Cameron and his beautiful wife Julie.  Time permitting, he also enjoys golfing and softball in the warm-weather months and downhill skiing in the winter.  Blessed with a large family around the country, he and his family love to travel whenever they can, be it by plane, train, or automobile.  A specific travel experience that he is particularly fond of was the two-week trip he took to Australia where he went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef and sky-diving in the same 24 hour period!

Awards