John Mcnett

Adjunct Professor Of Mechanical Engineering

John McNett has been with the Indianapolis patent law firm of Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry for 40 years. This is Indiana's largest patent specialty law firm, with over 30 patent attorneys all having engineering or science degrees. Mr. McNett also is adjunct professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue in West Lafayette where he teaches ME554, Intellectual Property for Engineers, and lectures in other engineering courses. Mr. McNett's undergraduate degree is from Purdue and his law degree is from the George Washington University.

He has focused on patent matters where creativity and insight are particularly helpful. This includes the drafting of patent applications, licensing of technology, providing related business advice, and handling of litigation. Early in his career, he handled the original U.S. and foreign patents on Gatorade thirst quencher. He has served as a director of a biotech company in San Francisco, Prototek, Inc. He has been lead trial counsel for Thomson Consumer Electronics in patent litigation involving satellite television and for Reilly Industries in patent litigation involving N-oxidation of polyvinylpyridine.

He has conducted jury trials of patent cases, and was the counsel of record for the petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Christianson et al. vs. Colt Industries, which set the standards for jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in addressing patent and trade secret issues relating to the M16 assault rifle. He is frequently ranked among the top 5% of attorneys in Indiana, as reflected in his frequent designation as a Super Lawyer.

Phone: (765) 404-8401

Email: jmcnett@purdue.edu