Why you should attend the Patent Stream sessions

Technology is advancing at lightning speed.  

As patent attorneys, we need to understand not only the advancements in existing areas of science and the availability of protection on products for which such protection has historically been prohibited, but also the most effective means for achieving broad worldwide protection and the emergence of tools that can assist us in obtaining that protection.  

The patent stream of FICPI’s 22nd Open Forum will consider the changing landscape of protecting pharmaceuticals and biologics, and how various jurisdictions regulate the interplay of innovator and generic products. We will review the recognition that cannabis and psychedelic compounds can be used effectively in the treatment of a vast array of psychological and somatic ailments, and that IP protection for those compounds and their sources is now available in various jurisdictions.

Drafting experts will provide their advice on preparing the most powerful patent applications to be prosecuted and enforced worldwide in the mechanical arts, life sciences, and information and communication technologies.  

Finally, we will learn how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be most effectively utilised for prior art and landscape searching, as well as drafting in prosecution and litigation, and ethical and privacy concerns that must be considered in using those tools.

We hope you will join our sessions and see why FICPI makes IP attorneys better at what they do! 

Right Body

Friday 27 September 2024

Time Session Name
11:00-12:30 Patent linkage
14:00-15:30 The “CANs” and CANNot’s of CANNabis [and Psychedelics] IP rights
Sharon Crane

Patent Stream Leader

Sharon E. Crane, PhD (US)

FICPI // Deputy Secretary General, DEIA Co-Chair
Haynes & Boone

Sharon E. Crane, PhD, is Deputy Secretary General of FICPI, and has recently joined the firm of Haynes and Boone, LLP as Counsel. Dr Crane has substantial experience in preparing and prosecuting patent applications and drafting infringement, validity and freedom to operate opinions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arts for clients ranging from independent inventors to multinational biotech companies. She devotes a significant percentage of her time to patent interferences, post grant proceedings, including inter partes review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR) proceedings, and appeals before the PTAB and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has also represented clients in patent litigation in the federal district courts. In all matters, Dr. Crane’s extensive scientific background assists her in understanding the technical aspects of a client’s intellectual property at a deeper level.

Dr Crane received a BA in Behavioural Biology from Johns Hopkins University, where she researched learning and memory. Dr Crane’s graduate training was in the Neuroscience Training Programme at the University of Virginia and in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Programme at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she received her PhD in molecular biology and genetics and focused on the study of lentiviruses. She received her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.