Atlanta-based law firm FisherBroyles and a contractor it retained to help docket patents are accused in a new lawsuit of missing a deadline by a full year, costing a surgical products inventor millions of dollars in disallowed patents pending in Europe, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Australia and Brazil.

The complaint filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court said FisherBroyles partner Anthony DoVale, who oversees the firm's intellectual property practice, contracted with intellectual property consultant service CPA Global to "provide FisherBroyles with docketing services" in which CPA calculated the deadlines necessary for filing patent applications on behalf of the firm's clients.