Christine Norris
Christine Norris is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group where she specializes in advising biotech and chemical companies on complex legal issues, ranging from the protection and enforcement of their intellectual property to the strategic acquisition or sale of patent portfolios.
Like a good financial planner, Christine understands that increasing the value of your IP portfolio depends on a comprehensive and clearly thought-out strategy. Christine regularly counsels clients on strategies for drafting and prosecuting high-value patent applications, creating, protecting and leveraging their IP assets to grow their businesses, and managing complex multinational patent portfolios. She also provides freedom to operate, validity and infringement analysis to ascertain whitespace for her clients to operate in.
Given the depth and breadth of her experience, Christine is well positioned to analyze the risks and value inherent in a patent portfolio. She has experience conducting due diligence investigations in connection with acquisitions, venture financing or exit options, keying in on the competitive advantages such transfers can afford her clients. She also helps target companies proactively identify and resolve possible IP issues that may arise in future transactions as part of her portfolio development practice.
Christine has significant experience in handling inter partes patent reexaminations on behalf of clients, and has been involved in interferences. She is a core member of Drinker’s inter partes review action team, and counsels clients on how they can make best use of the USPTO’s post-grant proceedings to achieve their business objectives.
Christine has represented a variety of clients ranging from large multinational corporations to small start-up companies and sole inventors. Her clients include industry leaders in the areas of therapeutic antibodies, vaccines, nanotechnology, therapeutic methods, industrial enzymes, biofuels, cosmetics, genomics and proteomics, personalized medicine, diagnostics, and food and beverages. Christine’s through understanding of both the technical aspects of IP and the underlying business environment in which her clients operate allows her to maximize opportunities and defeat patent challenges.
Christine attends the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) Customer Partnership meetings and reports relevant issues to her clients to assist them in staying abreast of changing policies and procedures at the USPTO. She is also an active member of the Licensing Executives Society and American Intellectual Property Law Association.
In General. Christine received her bachelor’s degree in biology and cognitive science from the University of Virginia in 2003 and her J.D. from the University of Maryland in 2008. Prior to attending law school, Christine spent several years conducting research in the areas of genomics and proteomics. She is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia and registered to practice before the USPTO. Christine Norris spent several years as an associate at a leading D.C. intellectual property boutique prior to joining the firm.