Practice Areas & Industries: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney regularly helps clients obtain, maintain, protect and transfer intellectual property rights for products, processes and services, and obtain the appropriate regulatory clearance to bring those products and services to market. In collaboration with our Food & Drug practice, the firm's Intellectual Property lawyers work with clients to maximize and enhance their intellectual property using the various options available for biotechnology products, including patents in the U.S. and abroad, as well as orphan drug and Hatch-Waxman exclusivities.

In 2005, the attorneys and patent professionals of Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis joined Buchanan. Burns Doane has consistently ranked among the top 10 patent firms in the nation by Intellectual Property Today. The addition has increased our collective ability to represent biotechnology clients in the areas of intellectual property, government relations, corporate structure, financing, compensation and venture capital.

Our lawyers have the background and experience to understand the technical nuances of our clients' innovations and to advise how to protect and capitalize on them. Our multidisciplinary team of Ph.D.-level professionals and industry insiders works with clients in all areas of biotechnology including pharmaceuticals and drug-delivery systems, genetic research and engineering, nanobio, plants, bioinformatics, tissue engineering, and medical and diagnostic equipment. We can talk science with inventors while advising management on financing strategies in this increasingly competitive environment. Our Biotechnology Team includes members of our Biotechnology and Chemical Practice Groups in Alexandria, Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley and San Diego.

Services Available

A full-service firm, we offer industry-focused practice groups, including the following:

• Intellectual Property. Our group's experience and capability span the range of intellectual property issues, including patent prosecution and defense, trademarks, copyrights, trade dress, trade secrets, licensing, technology transfer, and non-disclosure and non-compete agreements. Our mission is to help ensure that the value of client intellectual property rights is established, maintained and enforced.
• Intellectual Property Litigation. Buchanan lawyers litigate and provide IP litigation counseling on behalf of a broad and diverse cross-section of national and international businesses. Using a team approach, including both litigators and intellectual property attorneys, we offer broad trial and litigation experience to our biotechnology clients. Our attorneys have defended patents, trade secrets, copyrights and related claims in cases around the country and around the world in federal and state courts and before arbitration panels. We have litigated extensively in patent litigation and have represented clients in pharmaceutical patent litigations, commonly known as Paragraph IV patent litigations, based on the Hatch-Waxman Act. Additionally, we have assisted numerous clients in obtaining patent term extensions under 35 U.S.C. § 156.
• Food and Drug. Buchanan lawyers advise foreign and domestic clients on the requirements for obtaining FDA clearance to market products, including the bench, toxicological, preclinical, animal and clinical testing required. Our lawyers also have dealt with regulatory agencies in Canada, Europe, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and South Africa.
• Venture Capital. Since the early 1980s, capital providers and emerging technology companies have turned to Buchanan. The firm's depth of talent and experience make us a firm of choice for national, regional and local capital providers and for the emerging companies in which they invest. Our long term commitment to venture capital and our transaction experience have placed us on the forefront of recognizing new legal and business developments.
• Federal Government Relations. Our bi-partisan team includes three former members of the United States House of Representatives, including a former majority whip of the House, a former subcommittee chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and a former member of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
• Tax. With more than 40 attorneys experienced in federal tax planning, controversy, legislative and regulatory work, we assist both established and emerging companies with the increasingly detailed regulation of business and personal tax matters. We provide counsel as to the form of business entity and ownership structure of corporations, LLCs, joint venture relationships and partnerships, as well as business combinations, separations, contractions and mergers and acquisitions. Our attorneys provide services covering tax-qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, executive compensation matters, stock options and ESOP tax planning, as well as the review of ongoing compliance of such plans with IRS rules.
• Corporate Finance. Our client base includes companies engaged in both light manufacturing and heavy industry, service and white-collar industries, technology ventures, the consumer products field and insurance. Financial institution clients include banks and other institutional lenders, investment bankers, brokers, venture capital funds and regulated investment companies.
• Immigration. With the increasing complexity of U.S. immigration laws and policies and tighter restrictions on visa availability for professional workers, immigration lawyers have become crucial advisors to clients working with biotechnology. We regularly assist biotechnology companies in obtaining nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for researchers, executives, and managers, as well as world-renowned scientists who are at the forefront of their field and qualify for special consideration based upon their noteworthy accomplishments.