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CIRM hires attorney, not registered before USPTO, to give advice on IP

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Californiastemcellreport noted: Nancy Koch has been hired part-time for six months through Oct. 7 on a $150,000 contract to deal with IP matters. Californiastemcellreport further noted on June 4:

An attorney, who must remain anonymous but who is familiar with intellectual property law, sent the following re Nancy Koch in the item below:

"Chiron's chief IP attorney, under whom she worked, was a strong and insightful patent portfolio strategist, so she probably has good experience from working with him."

IPBiz is puzzled by the anonymous comment. One would hope CIRM hired somebody who had good credentials, not someone who probably had a good experience working for someone else. IPBiz can discuss some of Chiron's ventures in ip law elsewhere. Those actually "familiar with intellectual property law" will remember Chiron's disastrous performance in Chiron v. Genentech, 363 F.3d 1247, 70 USPQ2d 1321 (CAFC 2003), discussed by (among others) LBE in 88 JPTOS 743 (2006).

For the moment, note that Nancy Koch does not appear to be a registered patent attorney.

Comment to californiastemcellreport:

Inspection of the USPTO attorney roster reveals nine registered patent attorneys with last name Koch, none of whom appear to be Nancy Koch of California. The hiring of an attorney not registered to practice before the USPTO to give advice to CIRM on intellectual property matters speaks volumes.

On Koch, see also information on zoominfo.

Full post as published by IPBiz on June 05, 2008 (boomark / email).