Jeffrey Kushan

Mr. Kushan focuses his practice in Hatch-Waxman patent litigation, patent appeals, and complex patent administrative proceedings, including patent reexamination and reissue proceedings. He performs patent portfolio reviews for clients, both for pre-litigation purposes and incidental to licensing or acquisitions. He also represents clients, including trade associations, on domestic and international patent policy matters, including patent law reform, the Hatch-Waxman system, and legislation concerning follow-on biological products.

In 2003, he was named one of the top 45 lawyers in the United States under the age of 45 by The American Lawyer magazine. Since 2006, he has been listed in the “Best Lawyers in America” Washington, D.C. region edition. Chambers USA consistently names him among the top intellectual property lawyers in the United States.

Before entering private practice, Mr. Kushan worked in government for over a decade. In the Patent and Trademark Office, he served as a patent examiner specializing in recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies, and later as an attorney advisor in the PTO Office of Legislative and International Affairs. In the latter position, he worked on a wide variety of domestic and international patent policy matters, including PTO examination standards for biotechnology, pharmaceutical and software inventions; the legislative and regulatory implementation of the TRIPS Agreement; enactment of the Biotechnology Process Patents Amendments Act; global patent law harmonization negotiations; PCT reform efforts; negotiations on the Convention on Biological Diversity and bilateral free trade agreements. In Geneva, Switzerland, he was assigned to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where he represented the United States before the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization on intellectual property matters, including WTO disputes involving the TRIPS Agreement, PCT reform efforts, and serving as chief U.S. negotiator for the 1996 WIPO “Internet” treaties.

Mr. Kushan has testified numerous times before Congress on patent law reform and is a frequent lecturer on domestic and international patent issues. He is a member of the George Washington University Intellectual Property Advisory Board, serves on the executive committee of AIPPI-US and is a member of the Industry Functional Advisory Committee (Intellectual Property) of the Department of Commerce.

Mr. Kushan received his B.S. in Chemistry from the College of William & Mary, his M.A. in Chemistry (concentrating in protein chemistry) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his J.D., with honors, from the National Law Center of the George Washington University.