Steve P. O’Connor, Ph.D., leads Finnegans biotechnology and pharmaceutical practice group. He provides intellectual property counseling for domestic and foreign clients, from startups to Fortune 100 companies, primarily in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas.
Steve’s practice currently focuses on due diligence investigations, and the preparation of infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate opinions. He also assists clients with the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications, ex parte appeals, and provides advice on global portfolio management.
Additionally, he represents clients in interferences before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He successfully represented a client in an interference involving automated nucleic acid sequencing technology.
Steve has managed patent portfolios for clients in various technologies, including adherent stromal cells, antibodies, antibiotics, recombinant vaccines, and molecular diagnostics. He assisted an Israeli pharmaceutical company with a successful out-license of a drug for treating schizophrenia. He represented biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and an investment group in due diligence analyses relating to technology in-licensing and investment opportunities.
At an early stage in his career, Steve was involved in a patent litigation involving patents covering nucleic acid amplification methods. He has experience in a wide range of technologies, including gene therapy, nucleic acid sequencing and detection, transgenic plants, stem cells, and molecular diagnostics.
Education :
- University of Virginia School of Law J.D., 1996
- University of Minnesota Ph.D., Microbiology, 1987
- Rutgers University B.A., Microbiology, 1982
Admissions :
- District of Columbia
- Georgia
- Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Veterans Claims
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Cost
Rate : $$$