Brian Lathrop

Brian Lathrop, Ph.D. is an associate in the Washington D.C. office and is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group.

Brian joined Drinker Biddle in 2007.  His practice combines in-depth knowledge and experience in the biological sciences with detailed understanding of patent practice and procedure.  Brian procures patents and assists with IP portfolio development in all areas of biotechnology and medical devices.  His experience before the United States Patent and Trademark Office includes petition practice and appellate practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.  Brian’s experience in U.S. prosecution includes reexaminations and reissues.  He also assists in patent prosecution in foreign jurisdictions, including involvement in opposition procedures.  Brian also has made presentations on U.S. restriction practice.

Brian has prepared numerous freedom-to-operate and patentability opinions, as well as IP landscape analyses.  He has evaluated licensing and material transfer agreements.  His experience in biotechnology patent litigations includes claim construction and detailed analysis of the prior art to develop positions to attack or defend patent validity.  The technologies he has worked with include diagnostic arrays, modification of gene expression, genetic modification of plants and animals, proteomics, immunology, stem cells, fusion proteins and drug delivery.

Brian received a bachelor’s degree, honors with distinction, in biology from Indiana University in 1981, Phi Beta Kappa.  In 1986 he received a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Washington University School of Medicine.  Brian conducted post-doctoral academic research at the University of Virginia for nine years.  He conducted basic research in the fields of cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics, and he was the first author on publications in Biochemistry, Biophysics Journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Methods in Enzymology and Journal of Cell Biology.

Brian was a patent examiner in the Biotechnology Art Group at the USPTO from 1996-1998.  He then joined another law firm in the District of Columbia as a patent agent.  Brian received a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law in 2004.  He is currently licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Brian is a member of American Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association and is involved with MdBio, a Division of the Tech Council of Maryland that seeks to advance the bioscience industry in Maryland.