Patent Protection in Life Sciences: Creative Approaches to Safeguard Your Innovations

Melanie Szweras is a partner with Bereskin & Parr LLP and a member of the Life Science’s practice group. She is also co-leader of the Privacy/Regulatory, Advertising, Marketing & Regulatory practice group.

Melanie’s practice focuses on drafting and prosecution of applications relating to biologics, diagnostics, biotechnology, food and pharmaceuticals. Melanie offers strategic advice and expertise to her clients, provides validity and freedom to operate opinions and is involved in related patent litigation and licensing.

Melanie’s privacy work includes advising organizations on compliance with Canadian privacy laws, including PIPEDA, assisting with preparation of privacy policies, terms and conditions, outsourcing agreements and general management of personal information. Her regulatory work includes advising on Health Canada regulated labelling and advertising and on health-related regulations, such as those relating to notices of compliance, certificates of supplementary protection and the Patented Medicines Price Review Board.

Melanie lectures on aspects of Biotechnology and The Application Process at the University of Toronto’s Patent & Trade Secrets Law course and Osgoode Hall’s LLM Patent Law course. Melanie is the Vice-Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Committee for the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) . Melanie also is the Issues Leader of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Biotechnology Committee.

Melanie received numerous awards throughout her education, including the Medical Research Council Studentship and a University of Toronto Open Scholarship. She was also the Bronze Medalist for her class of 2003 at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Kevin E. Noonan is a partner with McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP and serves as Chair of the firm’s Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Practice Group. An experienced biotechnology patent lawyer, Dr. Noonan brings more than 20 years of extensive work as a molecular biologist studying high-technology problems in serving the unique needs of his clients. His practice involves all aspects of patent prosecution, practice before the PTAB, and litigation. He represents pharmaceutical companies both large and small on a myriad of issues, as well as several universities in both patenting and licensing to outside investors. He has also filed amicus briefs in landmark patent and other cases to district courts, the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court involving patenting issues relevant to biotechnology.

Dr. Noonan is a frequent speaker, commentator and author on a variety of intellectual property law topics. He is a founding author of the Patent Docs weblog, a site focusing on biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent law. In 2010, he was interviewed for a segment that aired on the television program “60 Minutes” that addressed the issue of gene patenting.