Eric J. Snustad

Eric focuses on prosecuting and managing patents. He also advises clients on how to stop (or prevent) infringement of their intellectual property.

Eric is an officer and shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron’s Intellectual Property Group. He does a great deal of work helping clients avoid the patents of competitors. When competitors have invalid patents, Eric works with litigators to attack those patents in court or, when appropriate, he asks the Patent Office to reconsider the validity of the patents by initiating Reexaminations or Reviews.

Eric is highly skilled in a wide range of mechanical arts. For example, he has done patent work on press brake tools, turret press tools, sheet metal stamping, material handlers/loaders, grapples and attachments, mobile shears, truck beds, hydraulic systems and components, excavator adapters, extrusion equipment, polymer filtering, floor cleaning vehicles, carpet extractors, vacuums, wheel bearings and other bearing assemblies, agricultural equipment, HVAC components and systems, assembly line technology, automation equipment, window products, privacy glazing products, glass making and other glass technology, aerogels, medical device technology, fire-fighting equipment, log building technology, wake surfing devices, masking films, and consumer products.

Eric has worked extensively on a variety of coating technologies, particularly in connection with thin films and vacuum deposition methods. Examples include glass coatings, such as low-emissivity, solar-control, hydrophilic or photocatalytic coatings; commercial and industrial polymer coatings for concrete and other flooring; materials and ingredients used in forming coatings; privacy glass coatings; coatings for electrolysis anodes; photovoltaic coatings; gemstone coatings; sputter deposition; ion beam processes; flash-lamp annealing; tempering; and other heat treatments. Eric has also worked on numerous inventions involving multi-layer structures, such as laminates (e.g., safety glass), polymer extrusions, lithophanes and various glazing technologies.

Eric also has particular interest in aerospace technology, especially the mechanical components used in this field, as well as products in which flow characteristics are important. He has worked on technologies involving aircraft design, floats for amphibious airplanes, aircraft landing safety warning systems, fire suppression aircraft technology and aircraft bearing systems.

Education

• Franklin-Pierce Law Center (now University of New Hampshire School of Law), LL.M., Intellectual Property, 1999
• Pepperdine University School of Law, J.D., 1997
• University of Minnesota, Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, 1994

Admissions

• California, 1997
• Minnesota, 1999
• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 1999

• Counsel-to-Counsel Award Winner, The National Law Journal, Twin Cities Legal Departments of the Year, 2015

Professional Activities

• University of Minnesota College of Science & Engineering (CSE), Board Member, 2019-present, Chair of Alumni Engagement Committee, 2021-2023
• Moundsview High School Annual Physics Fair, Judge, 2020-2022
• The Works Museum: Technology & Engineering, Volunteer, April and August, 2022
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Scientific & Natural Areas Volunteer, Summer 2021 and 2022