Ryan Carter
Chemistry is Ryan Carter’s family business. His grandfather taught high school chemistry, and his dad was a chemist for Deere & Co. It’s not surprising that Ryan earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry. Before law school, Ryan worked in a lab making and purifying synthetic DNA. “Working alone in a lab was a solitary existence for me,” Ryan says. “I enjoy practicing law because it allows me to work collaboratively with clients.”
When he decided that the lab was not his true love, Ryan went to law school and still found a way to use his chemistry degree—as a patent attorney.
In the jump from the lab to the law, Ryan knew he wasn’t discarding his science degree. He was giving it a new outlet. As a registered patent attorney, his law practice focuses on patent prosecution in many technology areas. “I use my chemistry degree to represent clients who have inventions that relate to chemical processing, such as biodiesel or ethanol manufacturing processes.”
While chemistry gives him insight to those fields, his practice extends beyond them into many other industries and technology areas. Ryan helps clients secure worldwide intellectual property rights by drafting and prosecuting patent applications in a wide range of technologies as well as assisting in trademark, copyright, licensing, and trade secret matters. He also prepares opinions and advises clients on matters involving intellectual property infringement and litigation.
In practicing patent law, he finds working with passionate inventors to be an exciting and satisfying experience. “The inventors bring a lot of energy with them as they are excited to discuss, protect, and commercialize what they have created,” Ryan says. That passion motivates Ryan to provide his clients the best work product possible.
In addition to his law practice, Ryan is actively involved in the community and with the state bar association. He’s been a board member for a number of charitable organizations and has taken leadership roles in county and state bar association committees.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401-2030
