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Laura Labeots, Ph.D.

For the past 25 years, Dr. Laura Labeots has helped companies develop and defend their Intellectual Property portfolios. She has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Northwestern University where she worked with Professor Robert Letsinger. She did postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago where later she became a Research Faculty Member. Her legal practice includes patent drafting and prosecution, litigation, opinion work (freedom-to-operate, patentability, invalidity, and infringement analyses), due diligence, licensing, trade secrets, trademark prosecution and litigation, and inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Laura partners with companies to develop effective patent strategies on a wide range of matters including genetic testing, diagnostics, disease detection, vaccines, antibodies, nucleic acids, siRNA, miRNA, CRISPR, antisense oligonucleotides, RNAi, stem cells, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, chemical synthesis, polymeric materials, nutrition, agriculture/plants, veterinary medicine, orthopedic/dental/medical devices, light-shaping diffusers, holographic components, geotextiles, tools, and instrumentation.  In addition, she advises companies on issues relating to subject matter eligibility for nucleic acid-based inventions, genetics, and personalized medicine patents.

Some of the pharmaceutical agents that Laura has worked on include these: metastasis inhibitors, antifungal antibiotics, anticoagulants, macrolides, rifamycin antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, reverse transcriptase inhibitors, anticonvulsants, estrogen receptor antagonists, antipsychotics, topical analgesics, appetite stimulants, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder modulators, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, atypical antibiotics, dopamine agonists and psychostimulants.

In addition to her legal experience, Laura has significant industrial experience as a Research Chemist for more than a decade. She helped develop diagnostic products for Abbott Laboratories based on modified nucleic acids. She also worked for Kraft Foods Company, where she co-invented several patents on synthetic fat substitutes, including U.S. Patent No. 5,424,420; European Patent No. 064765; Norway Patent No. 0943707; Finland Patent No. 944625; and Canadian Patent No. 2,131,786. She also worked for Exelon.

Presentations

  • Presenter, "Evaluating Functional Claiming, Enablement and Sufficiency in Light of Amgen v. Sanofi," Texas Intellectual Property Law Association (TIPLA) Fall Conference 2023, November 10, 2023
  • Co-presenter, "Antivirals, Antibodies, and Anti-Inflammatories: COVID-19 Therapies in Clinical Trials and Related Biotech Patent Pitfalls," December 9, 2020
  • Speaker, "Building a Strong Patent Portfolio for Nucleic Acids-Based Inventions," Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC), July 22, 2019
  • Speaker, "Intellectual Property for Agriculture and Plants," Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC), March 14, 2019
  • Speaker, "Structuring Freedom to Operate Opinions-Reducing Risk of Patent Infringement," Strafford Webinar, July 31, 2018 (Encore Presentation)
  • Speaker, "Freedom to Operate Opinions-Reducing Risk of Patent Infringement," Strafford Webinar, July 30, 2017 (Encore Presentation)
  • Speaker, "Markush Claims in Pharma/Chemical Patent Prosecution and Litigation: Leveraging Federal Court Guidance," Strafford Webinar, April 6, 2017
  • Speaker, "Structuring Freedom to Operate Opinions-Reducing Risk of Patent Infringement," Strafford Webinar, September 21, 2016 (Encore Presentation)
  • Speaker, "Structuring Freedom to Operate Opinions-Reducing Risk of Patent Infringement," Strafford Webinar, July 21, 2016
  • Featured Speaker, "Personalized Medicine Patent Law Update," TIDES Oligonucleotide and Peptide Therapeutics Conference, Long Beach California, May 10, 2016
  • Speaker, "Personalized Medicine and Patent Law," St. Louis Institute of Nanoscience and Nanomedicine Symposium, December 12, 2015
  • Speaker, "The Written Description Requirement," Chicago Bar Association, November 1, 2014
  • Speaker, "Legal Opinions on Invalidity and Non-Infringement," American Conference Institute, Chicago, Illinois, October 3, 2013

Publications

  • Featured, Amicus Curiae Brief with IPLAC to the Supreme Court of the United States on Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Support of Petitioners in Athena v. Mayo, No. 19-430, October 31, 2019

  • Featured, IP Law Group Urges High Court to Fix Patent Eligibility, Law 360, October 31, 2019

Professional Affiliations

  • Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, co-chair Biotech Committee
  • American Bar Association
  • American Chemical Society
  • Chicago Bar Association
  • Chicago Innovation Mentors
  • Illinois State Bar Association
  • Licensing Executives Society
  • PROPEL
  • Women in Bio

Honors

  • Crain's Chicago Business, "Notable Women in Law," 2020, 2022, 2024
Photo of Laura  Labeots, Ph.D.
  • Chicago

    155 North Wacker Drive
    Suite 3000
    Chicago, IL 60606-1787
F: 312.920.3301

Industries

Court Memberships

  • Illinois
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office

Education

The University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., 2003

  • Staff Editor, Review of Intellectual Property Law

The University of Chicago, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1993

Northwestern University, Ph.D., Bioorganic Chemistry, 1992

Northwestern University, M.S., Organic Chemistry, 1989

Indiana University, B.A., Chemistry, 1984

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