Ryan N.
Carter

OVERVIEW

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.

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

American Bar Association
Intellectual Property Law Section

Iowa State Bar Association

• Chair, Membership Committee, Young Lawyers Division, 2006-2010
• Executive Council, Young Lawyers Division, 2005-2010
• Member, State Fair Mock Trial Committee, Young Lawyers Division, 2003-2010
• Member, Legislative Leadership Academy Committee, Young Lawyers Division, 2010
• Member, Long Range Planning Committee, Young Lawyers Division, 2010
• Speaker, Annual Meeting, 2004

Linn County Bar Association

• Vice President, Board of Governors, 2004-2006
• President, Linn Law Club, 2004-2006

American Intellectual Property Law Association

Iowa Intellectual Property Law Association
Board of Directors, 2009-2014

100+ Men Who Care, Cedar Rapids Metro
Board Member, 2014-2016

Friends of Coralville Lake
Board Member, 2017-present

Metro North Rotary
2011-2014

Elmcrest Country Club
Membership Committee, 2011-2013

Breakfast of Champions
2010-2014

Linn Community Care Health Center
Board of Directors, 2005-2006

RECOGNITION

The Best Lawyers in America®
Copyright Law, 2023-2025

IP Stars
Patent Star, 2021-2023

Martindale-Hubbell
AV Preeminent, peer rated for highest level of professional excellence

Southern Illinois University Law Journal
Casenote/Comment Editor, 2001-2002

SPEECHES & PUBLICATIONS

“Intellectual Property Law & Practice”
Guest Lecture to University of Iowa School of Law Advanced Legal Research class, 2018

“Intellectual Property Law & Practice”
Iowa Paralegal Association Annual Meeting, April 20, 2018 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property Primer and a Potpourri of Other Technology Issues Faced by In-House Counsel”
3rd Annual Corporate Counsel Forum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Nov. 11, 2016 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property Law: Protecting Your Intangible Assets”
University of Iowa Venture School, 2015, 2016 (speaker)

“Post AIA Prosecution Strategies”
Association of Corporate Counsel, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 23, 2015 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property Law and the America Invents Act”
Iowa State Bar Association’s 2013 Nuts and Bolts Seminar, Des Moines, Iowa, October 30, 2013 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property: An Overview for the Non-IP Attorney”
Iowa State Bar Association’s 2011 Bridge the Gap Seminar, Des Moines, Iowa, May 13, 2011 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property Audits”
Nyemaster Goode’s Intellectual Property Practice Group Fall Seminar 2009, Ames, Iowa, October 22, 2009 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property: An Overview for the Non-IP Attorney”
Iowa State Bar Association’s 2009 Nuts and Bolts CLE Seminar, Coralville, Iowa, October 19, 2009 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property: An Overview for the Non-IP Attorney”
2009 Trade Regulation & Corporate Counsel Seminar, Des Moines, Iowa, September 18, 2009 (speaker)

“How to Really Start Your Own Business”
Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE) Business Seminar Series, 2008–2009 (speaker)

Renew Rural Iowa Business Success Seminar
Farm Bureau Rural Iowa Seminar Series, March 22, 2007, November 30, 2007, January 25, 2008 (speaker)

“New Laws & Rules Aimed at Solving Patent Problems”
Entrepreneurial Development Center Central Newsletter, Volume 3, Issue 3, September 5, 2007

“Apple’s ‘iPhone’ Dispute Offers Lesson in Trademark Law”
Edge Business Magazine, p. 25, March 2007

“Can Keyword Searches on the Internet Constitute Trademark Infringement?”
The Edge, A Journal for Business in Iowa’s Technology Corridor, December 2005

“Patent Basics”
Iowa Business Law Manual 2005, Volume 2, p. 1149–1155, 2005

“Every Day Intellectual Property Issues”
Iowa State Bar Association Annual Meeting, June 2004 (speaker)

“Intellectual Property Audits Can Find Property Worth Protecting”
The Iowa Lawyer, Michele Blythe and Ryan Carter, February 2003

“Trace Detection of NO and NO2 by Photoionization and Laser Induced Fluorescence Techniques”
ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA, Dr. J.B. Simeonsson, Ryan Carter, et al., 397 (1-3), 1999