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BIO Staff Contact: Lila Feisee, Managing Director, Intellectual Property
Committee Co-Chairs: Brian Barrett, Patent Counsel, Eli Lilly & Company
Past Chair: Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel,
Human Genome Sciences Inc.
Existing Subcommittees and Working Groups:
Amicus Subcommittee-Chair: Brian Barrett, Patent Counsel, Eli Lilly & Company
PTO Working Group-Chair: Charles Berkman, Assistant General Counsel & Chief Patent Counsel, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Biotechnology Patenting Working Group- Chair: Mark Wilson, Nektar
International Intellectual Property Working Group-Chair: Vacant
Mission: To promote strong, predictable intellectual property protection and efficient transfer of IP rights for the biotechnology industry domestically and internationally.
Issues: Learn more about the issues BIO's Intellectual Property Counsels' Committee addresses.
Responsibilities:
- The IPC committee is responsible for developing domestic and international intellectual property policy that benefits the biotechnology industry.
- The committee is responsible for reviewing and commenting on proposed intellectual property legislation.
- The committee is responsible for reviewing and commenting on IP-related regulations from Federal agencies, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- The committee works with BIO staff to brief Members of Congress and officials of governmental agencies such as the PTO, the U.S. State Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the NIH on intellectual property matters.
- The committee actively participates in efforts to influence legislation, treaties, jurisprudence and practice in a manner most beneficial to the continued positive development of the biotechnology industry.
- The committee will from time to time approve the filing of amicus briefs in cases with impact on the biotechnology industry.
- Committee members may be asked to help develop IP related position papers, white papers and educational materials.
- Committee members may be asked to formulate comments and testimony on various IP related guidelines and regulations.
- The committee shares jurisdiction with the International Relations Committee on multinational treaties.
Policy Approval Process: Substantive matters designed to become the official position of BIO are sent as recommendations of the IPC committee to the Board of Directors Standing Committee on Intellectual Property for first review. The Standing Committee on Intellectual property will discuss and, as appropriate determine changes in the recommendations. The Standing Committee will then either return the substantive matter to the IPC for further comment and revision or refer the matter to the full Board of Directors for consideration.
Eligibility for Participation: Must be a member of BIO. Unless otherwise directed by the chair of the IPC committee, IPC committee members must represent a member biotechnology company either as in-house patent counsel or outside patent counsel. While a law degree is not required, many committee activities require detailed knowledge of patent law.
Past accomplishments: The IPC committee has in the past helped develop and successfully pushed for passage of the American Inventor Protection Act of 1999. The committee developed BIO's position and testimony on patenting genetic materials; intellectual property and competition policy; and the PTO's utility and written description guidelines. The committee has developed BIO's position on Patent Law Harmonization and has been actively involved in PTO related issues such as user fee legislation and restructuring of the PTO fees. The committee has filed amicus briefs in cases of interest to the biotechnology industry and has developed a framework for educational materials for the federal judiciary.
Obligations: The committee meets 4 times a year (usually once a quarter) in-person. There are also opportunities for working groups to meet on an ad hoc basis or to give comments throughout the year on papers, letters, and other correspondence sent out on behalf of BIO's members.
Contact information:
Lila Feisee, Director, Intellectual Property, lfeisee@bio.org;
Brandy B. Blevins, Legal and Intellectual Property, Coordinator, bblevins@bio.org
Address:
1201 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Suite 900,
Washington, DC 20024-2149,
(202) 962-9200
fax: 202-488-6301 website: www.bio.org.
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