Reed R. Heimbecher is the Leader of Dykema's Intellectual Property Transactional Practice Group and the Office Managing Member of Dykema's Minneapolis office. He has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of worldwide IP law. His practice currently focuses on patent and trademark prosecution and portfolio management, client counseling, and intellectual property due diligence. He also provides all types of opinions, including patentability, enforceability, availability, noninfringement, and invalidity. Mr. Heimbecher also does agreement work, and he handles appeals before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Prior to joining Dykema, Mr. Heimbecher managed his own firm, which St. Jude Medical (a Fortune 500 company now part of Abbott Laboratories) selected in 2012 as a “Go-To Law Firm for Patent Prosecution” (as recognized by American Lawyer Media). Mr. Heimbecher had previously served for seven years as Vice President, Intellectual Property, and Chief Patent Counsel for St. Jude Medical’s Atrial Fibrillation Division. Before his seven-year tenure with St. Jude Medical and before he managed his own firm, Mr. Heimbecher was a partner in the Intellectual Property practice group of a 700+ attorney, international law firm, and was Patent Practice Group head for that firm's Colorado and Montana offices. Mr. Heimbecher clerked for the Hon. Giles S. Rich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judge Rich was one of the primary drafters of the 1952 Patent Act and was often referred to as the "Dean of Patents."

Before attending law school, Mr. Heimbecher worked as an aerospace engineer for a large military contractor, where he carried out performance and aerodynamic analysis, and six-degrees-of-freedom trajectory simulations of Tomahawk cruise missiles and of launch vehicles for putting large payloads into outer space. He held a Department of Defense Secret clearance.

Bar Admissions

Minnesota

Colorado

Education
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D.

• Editor in Chief, Hastings Communications & Entertainment Law Journal
• American Jurisprudence Award, Trial Advocacy II
• 1066 Foundation Scholarship

University of Colorado, B.S., with Honors

• Tau Beta Pi
• Sigma Gamma Tau
• Merit Scholarship

Significant Accomplishments
Mr. Heimbecher's litigation experience includes the following cases:

Huang v. Colson (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter.) (representing senior party as lead attorney in an interference concerning honeycomb insulating panels; priority awarded to client following preliminary motion phase)
Ex parte Colson & Swiszcz (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter.) (appealing final rejection of claims; all claims allowed following oral argument)
First Bank Systems, Inc. v. Frazzel (D. Colo.) (asserting service mark infringement, dilution, and unfair competition; settled before trial)
Arete Corporation v. Laser Products, Inc. (D. Colo.) (seeking declaratory judgment of patent invalidity, unenforceability, and noninfringement; settled before trial)
Hunter Douglas Architectural Products Inc. v. G.J.P Enterprises, Inc. (D. Md.) (asserting patent infringement; settled before trial)
International Communications Manufacturing Corporation v. Capewell Components Company L.P. (D. Colo.) (defending against patent infringement; settled before trial)
MacPike v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (N.D. Fla.) (defending against patent infringement; directed verdict for defendant after jury trial)


Professional Associations
American Intellectual Property Law Association, Member

Federal Circuit Bar Association, Member

American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law, Member

Colorado Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section

Association of Former law Clerks and Technical Advisors of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit