Overview
Eric S. Furman, Ph.D. focuses on patent protection and other forms of intellectual property protection for biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.
Eric’s practice includes strategic patent counseling and procurement, freedom to operate analysis, counseling on infringement and invalidity issues, licensing, and due diligence studies as related to negotiations for mergers and acquisitions.
He currently represents clients with technology in the fields of genetically modified plants using RNAi methodologies, genetically modified organisms, stem cells, CAR T cells, prostate cancer therapeutics and other oncology pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, dietary supplements, diagnostic devices and assays, cleantech, industrial chemicals, and cosmetics.
Before joining the firm, Eric was a research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Leroy Hood where he made transgenic mice with aberrant forms of myelin basic protein. As a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School, he characterized transcription and splicing complexes, and was a teaching assistant for Donald S. Chisum, author of the preeminent treatise on patent law, while at law school.
Education
- University of Washington (UW) (J.D., 1998)
- University of California - Los Angeles - Medical School (UCLA) (Ph.D. Biochemistry, 1995)
- University of New Mexico (B.S. Biology, 1988), summa cum laude
Recognition
Awards & Honors
- Recognized for outstanding work in patent law in the 2024 edition of the Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) “Patent 1000 Guide” for Prosecution (2024)
- Recognized for high achievement in Patent Prosecution in Patexia’s “2024 Patexia Patent Prosecution Intelligence Report“ (2024)
- Named amongst Top 30 for Most Active Attorneys in Biotech in Patexia’s Patent Intelligence 2023 Report
- Named one of the “World’s Leading Patent Professionals” in the Patent 1000 guide by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine for Prosecution (2020-2023)
- Named among the “Top 25 Intellectual Property Portfolio Managers & Patent Prosecutors” by the Daily Journal in 2015.
News & Insights
Articles
Knobbe Martens Biotechnology Blog
- CDRH Announces Pilot Program to Improve Recall Communication
- Senate Seeks to Reduce Biosimilar Prices by “Pruning” “Patent Thickets”
- FDA Issues Final Rule on Laboratory-Developed Tests
- USPTO Says Wands Still Controls Enablement Analysis Post-Amgen
- Merck Sues Federal Government Over Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
- Recent Update on Patent Trial Practice Guide
- Bayh-Dole Act Revisions
- Cannabis Considerations: Protecting your Cannabis Innovation
- Lundbeck to Acquire Prexton Therapeutics for $1.1 billion
- The Cattle of the Future
- Sovereign Immunity and Inter Partes Review
- Pfizer Accuses J&J of Anticompetive Business Practices over Remicade Biosimilar
- FDA re-approves Mylotarg® antibody-drug conjugate seven years after it had been withdrawn from the market
- Doctrine of Equivalents under Enzo Biochem Inc. v. Applera Corp.
- Federal Circuit Finds Life Sciences Subject Matter Patent Eligible
- Continental patents a la carte or prix fixe? Biotechnology considerations for the unitary patent in Europe
“The dynamic state of patents in regenerative medicine.” Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Journal, August 2013.
“Focused Patent Strategies, Collaborations, and Drug Development Provide Security to Generate Financing.” The Scientist, June 19, 2008.
“Approaching Intellectual Property Protection for Biotech Companies in an Increasingly Competitive Market” Strategic Patent Protection, Reed Logic Books, 2006.
“Counseling Biotech Companies in the Competitive Market: The Interplay Between Freedom to Operate and Patent Protection” Winning Legal Strategies for Biotech Companies, Aspatore Books, 2005.
“The Role of Expert Testimony in Patent Litigation in the United States” International Symposium on Intellectual Property and the Management of International Disputes, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan (September 12-14, 1996): 1-18.
Eric Furman and Dohn Glitz. 1995. “Purification of Spliceosome A-Complex and its Visualization by Electron Microscapy” Journal of Biological Chemistry (270):15515-15522.
Yasuhiro Ohashi, Joshua Brickman, Eric Furman, Blake Middleton, and Michael Carrey. 1994. “Modulating the Potency of an Activator in a Yeast in vitro Transcription System” Molecular and Cellular Biology (14):2731-2739.
Speeches & Seminars
Knobbe Martens Webinar Series: Strategic Considerations in Addressing Obviousness Rejections under Section 103 (December 2020)
“Protecting Innovation in Regenerative Cell Medicine in the United States” Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Global Congress 2013, sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of S. Korea, Grand Hilton Seoul, South Korea March 27, 2013.
“Protecting Innovation in Regenerative Cell Medicine,” 23rd Annual Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association, South Western Regional Conference, Carlsbad, CA, Saturday, February 16.
Challenges and Opportunities of Protecting and Managing IP Assets in Emerging Markets, BIO International Convention Boston, MA, June 21, 2012.
How The America Invents Act Will Change The Approach To Partnering, Collaboration, And Deal-Making, Biomarker Partnering & Deal-Making summit, San Diego, CA, March 15, 2012.
Lecturer at a seminar entitled ““Developing an intellectual property program in an increasingly competitive biotech market,” Genetic Engineering News Theatre at BIO 2008 in San Diego, California.
Lecturer at a seminar entitled “Implementing a Global Patent Strategy in a Rapidly Changing World,” Intasma User Forum, September 27, 2007. Mälmo, Sweden.
Lecturer at a seminar entitled “Approaching Intellectual Property Protection For Biotech Companies in an Increasingly Competitive Market,” Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, May 31, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden.
Lecturer at a seminar entitled “Strategies for Obtaining Broad, Enforceable Protection for Biotech and Medical Inventions in the United States and Abroad” April 30, 1999, Menlo Park, California.
Eric Furman and Dohn Glitz. 1995. “Purification of the A-Complex Spliceosome its Characterization by Electron Microscopy and the Localization of the 5’ Segment of the U2 SnRNA in the Particle” RNA Processing Conference, Cold Spring Harbor, New York (Spring): 1999.