Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP

Representative Experience

Dr. Rin-Laures' extensive patent work for clients with biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical technologies includes:

• Antibodies
• Antisense and RNAi
• Recombinant biological drug products, including hemopoietic factors, growth factors, chemokines, neurotrophic factors, cellular adhesion molecules, enzymes, macrophage and neutrophil products, and bacterial antigens
• Small peptides and chemically modified derivatives
• Vaccines and immune therapies
• Chemical pharmaceutical products
• Pharmaceutical formulations, including aqueous compositions, lyophilized compositions, hydrogels and transdermal delivery
• Therapeutic methods using traditional pharmaceuticals or biologicals
• Processes and vectors for recombinant protein production in bacteria, cell lines and plants
• Diagnostic methods, e.g., for cancer, infection and autoimmune diseases
• GMO plants

Background and Credentials

Dr. Rin-Laures’ capabilities in managing global patent portfolios for the biopharma industry are backed by her extensive experience in patent prosecution and contested proceedings, both in the U.S. and abroad, her familiarity with negotiating licenses and other transactions and her prior in-house role as General Counsel.

She has protected clients’ interests in securing patents on a number of important commercially-marketed products, providing advice on freedom-to-operate searches, validity and infringement opinions, patent opposition proceedings, reexaminations, protests, and interferences, as well as appeals to the Federal Circuit, where she clerked after law school.

Dr. Rin-Laures regularly counsels clients – from startups to Fortune 500 companies – on patent strategy relating to new pharmaceutical/biotechnology product development, product life cycle management, as well as the interface with FDA regulations and related exclusivity provisions.

She also advises clients in a variety of transactions from due diligence to term sheet negotiations and drafting complex agreements.  Her experience includes agreements dealing with licenses, collaborations and other strategic alliances, sponsored research, technology and material transfer.

Dr. Rin-Laures served as General Counsel of Hyseq Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (later known as Nuvelo, Inc.) in 2001-2002, while on leave of absence from Marshall, Gerstein & Borun.  As General Counsel, she was responsible for settling litigation and negotiating numerous strategic alliance and license agreements.

Dr. Rin-Laures was named one of "Forty Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch,” a list of the state’s most talented and well-regarded young lawyers published by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.  She has also been voted an “Illinois Super Lawyer” for a number of years, a list which identifies the top five percent of the lawyers in Illinois based on a survey and research conducted by Law & Politics.  She has been selected by the Chicago Law Bulletin’s Leading Lawyer Network as a "Leading Lawyer."

She graduated in 1992 from Harvard Law School, cum laude, where she was Executive Editor and Managing Editor of Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and Editor-in-Chief of "Recent Developments in Health Law" in Law, Medicine & Health Care.  In 1992-93, after graduation, she served a clerkship with the Hon. S. Jay Plager at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Dr. Rin-Laures completed her medical school studies in 1988 when she received her M.D. from Northwestern University  Medical  School.  She was the youngest woman graduate at Johns Hopkins University where she received her B.A. in Chemistry, with honors, in 1984.

Publications and Speeches

Dr. Rin-Laures has been a frequent speaker on patent and licensing issues.  Some former presentations include:

• "Mastering Hot New Issues that Arise from New Technology" at Complex Intellectual Property Licensing seminar in Chicago, in April 2006.
• "Creating an Intellectual Property Framework for your Collaboration" at National Pharmaceutical and Biotech IP Licensing and Dealmaking Forum in Boston, in June of 2005. 

Past articles include:

• "Industries Await Exemption Verdict", published in Managing IP, No. 148, April 2005, by Patel and Rin-Laures.
• "Incentives to foster new antibiotics are proposed", published in The National Law Journal, August 29, 2005, by Rin-Laures and Flowers.

Community and Professional Involvement

• Chair of the steering committee, Women In Bio - Chicago chapter
• Delegate to the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms; member of PR Committee
• Member, Intellectual Property Owner’s organization; member, Pharmaceutical Issues Committee
• Former mentor for Menttium

Representative Matters

Adams (Monsanto)* v. Leemans (Bayer CropSciences)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Case Type(s): Patent Interference
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology

American Home Products Corporation v. The Upjohn Company*
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
Case Type(s): Patent Infringement
Area(s) of practice: Pharmaceuticals

Barton v. Fischhoff* (Monsanto) v. Adang (Mycogen Plant Science)
U.S. Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Case Type(s): Patent Interference
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology

Chee (Affymetrix) v. Drmanac (Hyseq)*
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Case Type(s): Patent Interference, Appeal
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology

Conflict re: Amgen Inc*
the Commissioner of Patents, Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Case Type(s): Conflict
Area(s) of practice: Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology

Elsbach (Monsanto)* v. Scott
U.S. Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Case Type(s): Patent Interference, Appeal
Area(s) of practice: Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology

Grinna* v. Marra
U.S. Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Area(s) of practice: Pharmaceuticals

Masinovsky* v. Newman v. Rice
U.S. Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Case Type(s): Patent Interference
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology

McDonald v. Miyazaki*
U.S. Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition and Appeal on behalf of Amgen Inc.* re: Genentech
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition and Appeal re: Amgen Inc.*
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Case Type(s): Opposition, Appeal
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition on behalf of ICOS Corporation* re: Protein Design Labs, Inc.
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition on behalf of Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd.* re: Genentech
Australian Patent Office
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition on behalf of XOMA Ltd.* re: Protein Design Labs, Inc.
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

Opposition re: Celltech R&D*
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Case Type(s): Opposition, Appeal
Area(s) of practice: Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals

*Party Represented

Short Biography