Patent - Biotechnology and Chemistry

Patent attorneys with the track record to protect your best work

Capabilities at a glance

  • A long history of protecting innovation and invention in the chemical and biotechnology fields, managing a wide range of portfolios.
  • A legal team with deep industry knowledge, including attorneys, patent agents, scientists and technical specialists with advanced degrees from across the sciences.
  • Strategic support for clients of all types and sizes, including universities and research institutions, Fortune 500 companies and exciting startups.
  • Juristat ranked our team as a "2022 Top Patent Firm" in Technology Center 1600 at the USPTO.

Well-informed legal advice from attorneys who understand your world

Our Biotechnology & Chemistry Patents team has built its reputation on deep technical experience of the industries in which you work. We know intellectual property (IP) protection in the sciences is complex; a wide variety of types of protection are available and the choice is rarely straightforward. That’s why you need sophisticated legal counsel from a team that understands the cutting edge work you do and the changing legal landscape around it. With approximately 35 members, our diverse team includes attorneys, patent agents and scientists and technical specialists with advanced degrees or industry experience in areas such as immunology, microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, cell biology, molecular biology and chemistry. We understand your innovations often have global potential, and we regularly collaborate with patent attorneys in numerous countries outside the U.S. to secure global patent protection.

Agility across all areas of biotechnology and chemistry IP

We are proud to provide legal support for research institutions, startups and established companies working at the cutting edge of scientific progress. We’ve secured hundreds of patents for our biotech and chemistry clients, including patents for groundbreaking research on primate and human embryonic stem cells. Our team manages an array of portfolios related to gene editing techniques and reagents, nanoparticles and biologics, and their various applications in the life sciences and biology fields. We also have extensive experience in securing chemical engineering and plant-related patents, and all kinds of pharmaceutical, medical, agrochemical and industrial chemical and engineering IP. Whether you are a Fortune 500 company or an exciting startup, we have the industry experience and legal skills to help you best protect your work.

News & Insights

Service Areas

  • Biotechnology

    Quarles has a long history of assisting clients with patents in the life sciences and biotechnology fields. With a team of attorneys, patent agents and technical specialists with a great deal of scientific knowledge and industry experience, we have obtained hundreds of issued biotech patents for our clients. Our patent practice experience in the industry includes the following technology areas:

    • Biologics, including antibodies, aptamers and protein therapeutics
    • Gene editing, including CRISPR/Cas
    • Immunology, including cell-based therapies, vaccines and adjuvants
    • Genetically engineered cells and organisms, including plants
    • Diagnostics, including genomic or proteomic markers
    • Gene therapy, including viral-based therapeutics
    • Drug delivery and therapeutics, including therapeutic methods
    • Biofuels and biomass processes
    • Engineered proteins, including fusion proteins
    • Plants, including utility, plant patents and plant variety protection
  • Chemical

    Quarles has a long history of protecting inventions in the chemical and material sciences. Because the chemical sciences are diverse and the principles are applicable across a broad range of technologies and industries, we have established broad experience across the full spectrum of material, industrial, consumer, analytical, nanotechnology, cleantech and renewables, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, medical and biochemistry applications. Our chemical sciences team draws on deep technical experience, and many of our attorneys and patent agents have advanced degrees or industry experience in areas such as organic, physical, analytical and theoretical chemistry, polymer and material science, optical sciences, and biochemistry and molecular biology.

  • Plant Biology and Agriculture

    Plant Biology and Agriculture intellectual property (IP) protection is complex. A wide variety of types of protection are available and the choice of protection is often not straightforward. More plant breeders are protecting their varieties, and producers of new varieties of plants are relying on complex biotechnology techniques to produce novel plants or methods of controlling plant disease. Our specific plant IP experience involves plant-related utility patents, plant patents (for asexually reproducing plants like blackberries, grapes and peaches) and plant variety protection certificates for plants such as potatoes, rice, soybeans, wheat and flowers. Our team also has significant experience handling horticulture-related matters pertaining to genetically engineered plants and gene editing, microbial or other natural crop protectants, food formulations and food processing methods, nutraceuticals, pest and weed control, agrochemical materials and bioenergy. 

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