Press Release

Boston, MA, July 31, 2020 – Burns & Levinson has been awarded a 10-year contract by National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide patent-legal services in the Mechanical Engineering category. Burns & Levinson was selected after a rigorous vetting process – from hundreds of law firms – and was one of only five law firms to be awarded a prestigious NIH contract in this category.

NIH, which is an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. The agency files about 200-300 patent applications each year, and its current active patent prosecution docket is more than 2,500 cases. In the mechanical engineering area, NIH seeks patent protection in a wide range of technologies including laboratory research instrumentation, clinical/surgical devices, systems, machines, microscopy, optics, medical devices, microfluidics, nanodevices, and electrical devices.

“NIH is at the forefront of developing innovative biomedical technologies that positively benefit the lives of millions of people, and we are excited be part of the team protecting their mechanical engineering innovations,” said partner Dr. Richard Emmons, who will lead the team advising NIH. “I have previously had the privilege of working with NIH and they are an incredible organization with which to partner.”