Laura A. Coruzzi Ph.D.
Partner
New York
Tel: 1.212.326.8383
Fax: 1.212.755.7306
Email:
lacoruzzi@jonesday.com
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Dr. Coruzzi chairs the Firm's life sciences practices, which includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics. Prior to joining Jones Day, she worked at Pennie & Edmonds LLP from 1981 through 2003 and was one of the first members of that firm's biotechnology group founded by S. Leslie Misrock, affectionately known as the "father of biotechnology patent law." Concentrating on intellectual property issues as applied to a variety of disciplines in the biotechnological field, Dr. Coruzzi's practice has evolved with the patent laws and matured with the needs of the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industries. Her current practice involves all aspects of patent law as it relates to the emerging fields of biotechnology, including genetic engineering, molecular biology, plant molecular biology, virology, immunology, genomics, functional genomics, proteomics, diagnostics, drug discovery, pharmaceuticals, pharmacogenomics, and drug delivery.
The focus of Dr. Coruzzi's patent procurement practice centers on the strategic planning and management of patent portfolios designed to protect emerging new platform technologies (such as functional genomics, proteomics, tissue engineering, and gene therapy), biologics (antibodies, growth factors, and peptide drugs), as well as other pharmaceuticals and therapies (antivirals, anti-angiogenic therapies, and chemotherapeutics). This includes handling U.S. prosecution and interference as well as management of corresponding foreign proceedings, particularly oppositions in the European Patent Office and Australia and revocations and litigations in the United Kingdom. Her client counseling activities include due diligence evaluations of patent portfolios; evaluation, analysis, and opinions on the patentability of inventions; validity of patents and freedom-to-operate or clearance opinions; and involvement in licensing strategies, negotiations, and agreements.
In addition to procurement and counseling, Dr. Coruzzi's practice also encompasses litigation and an appellate practice (at the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Court). Her litigation practice includes the development of trial strategy and participation in discovery, with extensive involvement in preparation of expert witnesses in technologies involving genetic engineering, molecular biology, drug screening, and pharmaceuticals. Most recently, in an appeal she argued at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Dr. Coruzzi and her team at Pennie & Edmonds won a reversal of a jury verdict and invalidated a patent covering cell-based assays for drug screening in Sibia Neurosciences Inc. v. Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation, 225 F.3d 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
Dr. Coruzzi is a frequent invited speaker at symposia on patent law issues related to cloning, genomics, ESTs (expressed sequence tags), SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), and gene therapy. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is also a member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the American Museum of Natural History.
Admitted
New York and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Education
Fordham University (J.D. 1985; Ph.D. in Biology 1979, specializing in cell biology, with a postdoctoral fellowship at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York; M.S. in Biology with honors 1975; B.S. in Biology with honors 1973)