Second Annual Triangle Biotech Research Symposium Features Myers Bigel Attorneys and “Assault on Biotech”
Alice Bonnen, Ph.D., and Robert Schwartzman, Ph.D. Discuss Recent Legal
Developments of Relevance to the Biotechnology Community
RALEIGH, N.C.– Myers Bigel Sibley & Sajovec, P.A. (Myers Bigel), the
largest independent patent law firm in North Carolina, shared expertise in
biotechnology, pharma, and chemistry intellectual property protection to
attendees at the recent Triangle Biotech Research Symposium with the
presentation “Assault on Biotech: Recent Case Law Impacting Biotechnology
Inventions.”
The August 20 event, co-sponsored by the BioPharma Research Council and the NC
Biotechnology Center, featured Alice Bonnen, Ph.D., and Robert Schwartzman,
Ph.D., attorneys with the Myers Bigel Biotechnology practice group.
“We appreciate the scientific and technical knowledge that Drs. Bonnen and
Schwartzman offered,” said Joanne Gere, executive director of the
BioPharma Research Council. “Symposium attendees — academic, industry,
and government researchers — require this depth of knowledge as they move
their discoveries into the medical innovation pipeline.”
The BioPharma Research Council (www.biopharmaresearchcouncil.org ) has helped
scientists developed connections across regional and international communities
since 2009. The 3rd Annual Triangle Biotech Research Symposium is scheduled for
August 19, 2014.
This is the second year Myers Bigel has participated in the Symposium, held at
the NC Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. In their
presentation, Drs. Bonnen and Schwartzman addressed four specific examples of
cases and the issues raised, such as how a carefully crafted statement on a
website may help protect against patent challenges; how courts might rule on
self-replicating technologies; what steps may be sufficient to ensure patent
eligibility of diagnostic method claims; and information pertaining to the
question of whether or not human genes are patentable.
The attorneys in the various Myers Bigel practice groups – Biotechnology,
Chemical and Pharmaceutical; Biomedical Technology; Electrical/Computer;
Mechanical; Litigation; and Trademark – have experience and science or
engineering degrees in a particular technology, in addition to their law
degrees. This rare perspective helps them deal with the unique technical
nuances of an invention and better relate with scientists and academics in
order to successfully obtain patents with real world value.
Myers Bigel provides expertise in all intellectual property areas, including
trademark and copyrights, as well as patents. Operating out of the Research
Triangle Park area of North Carolina, Myers Bigel represents corporate and
university clients located in the Carolinas, throughout the Southeast, across
the United States, and in Europe and Asia.