Vicki G. Norton, Ph.D.
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
Suite 900
101 West Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101-8285
USA

Phone: +1 619 744 2264
Fax: +1 619 923 3363
Email: vgnorton@duanemorris.com

Vicki G. Norton, Ph.D., practices in the area of intellectual property law with a focus on biotechnology and chemical patent counseling and litigation. She also advises clients on worldwide patent strategy, including identifying patent coverage issues, auditing technology portfolios to assist clients in transactions and venture opportunities and formulating strategic objectives for prosecution. She has handled patent matters in a variety of industries, including biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals and small molecule pharmaceuticals, relating to engineering transgenic plants and cells, biochemistry, methods to screen and make gas-absorbing materials, stem cell technologies, molecular biology, nanotechnology, immunology, combinatorial chemistry, probe amplification assays, diagnostics, nutraceuticals, microbiology, and therapeutic drugs and devices for physical therapy. Dr. Norton has also advised clients on all facets of litigation involving technologies including biopharmaceuticals, transgenic organisms, small molecules and nanotechnology.

Prior to attending law school, Dr. Norton served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of California, Davis, where she conducted research on histone acetylation and chromatin structure for her doctoral thesis.

Dr. Norton is a 1994 graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where she was managing editor of the UCLA Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif, and a graduate of the University of California, Davis (Ph.D., Biochemistry and Biophysics; B.S., summa cum laude, Biochemistry).

Areas of Practice

• Intellectual Property Law and Litigation

Representative Matters

• Advised Quest Diagnostics on intellectual property matters in connection with Quest's definitive merger agreement with Celera Corporation.

Professional Activities

• San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association
  - Member of Amicus Committee of the SDIPLA
  - Board Member, 2000-2006
  - President, 2004-2005
• Intellectual Property Owners BIO
  - Member
• BIO IP Counsel Committee, Member
• California State Bar
  - Committee for the Administration of Justice, 2006-present (Chair 2010-2011)

Admissions

• California
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• U.S. District Court for the Central, Northern and Southern Districts of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Education

• University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D., 1994
  - Managing Editor, UCLA Law Review
  - Order of the Coif
• University of California, Davis, Ph.D., 1990
• University of California, Davis, B.S., summa cum laude, 1981

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Partner, 2008-present
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC
  - Partner, 2004-2008
• Pillsbury Winthrop LLP
  - Partner, 2003-2004
• Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP
  - Partner, 2002-2003
  - Associate, 2000-2001
• Lyon & Lyon
  - Associate, 1994-2000

Honors and Awards

• Voted by peers as one of San Diego's Top IP Attorneys, 2005

Selected Publications

• "U.S. FDA Proposes User Fees for Biosimilar Products Comparable to Fees for Branded Biologic Drugs," GenericsWeb INNsight, June 2011
• Co-author, "Supreme Court Rules That Federally Funded Inventions Are Not Automatically Owned by Universities," Duane Morris Alert, June 8, 2011
• "FDA Proposes Pre-marketing User Fees for Biosimilar Product Manufacturers Comparable to Fees for Branded Manufacturers," Duane Morris Alert, May 11, 2011
• Co-author, "District Court Invalidates Claims to Isolated DNA Molecules and Methods of Their Use; Finds Subject Matter Ineligible for Patent Protection," Duane Morris Alert, March 31, 2010
• Co-author, "Smart Pill: So, Post-MMA, Who Gets First Slice?" IP Law & Business, August/September 2009
• Quoted in "Teaching Baby Biotechs to Play in the Big Leagues," Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 20, 2009
• "Managing Multi-Party Patent Cases: Avoiding Too Many Cooks in the Courtroom, 19(1) IPL Newsletter (Fall 2007)
• Co-author, "Effect of the Proposed PTO Rule Changes on Biotechnology Patents", cited in IP360 article, "New Study Supports Biotech Fears Over USPTO Changes," IP360 (July 13, 2006)
• "IP Issues for Microarrays," Biochips As Pathways to Drug Discovery, Andrew Carmen and Gary Hardiman, eds., 2006
• "What Nanotechnology Means for IP," Managing Intellectual Property, June 1, 2003
• Co-author, "Protecting Intellectual Property Overseas," San Diego Daily Transcript, August 1, 2002
• "Unnatural Selection: Preimplantation Genetic Screening and Proposed Regulation," 41 UCLA L. Rev. 1581-1650 (1994), reprinted in Reproductive Technologies, Carol Wekesser, Ed., 1996
• Co-author, "Histone Acetylation Reduces Nucleosome Core Particle Linking Number," 57 Cell 449-459 (1989)
• Co-author, "Nucleosome Linking Number Change Controlled By Acetylation of Histone H3 and H4," 265 J. Biol. Chem. 19848-19852 (1990)

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, "180-Day Exclusivity," ACI Hatch Waxman Boot Camp, San Diego, California, May 25, 2010
• Panelist, "Intellectual Property Management & Technology Licensing," NanoEquity Asia 2008, Singapore, May 28-29, 2008
• Panelist, "Nanotech IP and Licensing," NanoBioNexus, April 2007
• Chaired Panel Discussion, "From Bench to Bench" Chemistry and the Law Session, ACS Meeting, San Francisco, September 2006
• Chaired Panel Discussion, "The Convergence of IT and Biotechnology," FWE Meeting, September 2002
• Chaired Panel Discussion, "The Status of Nanotechnology," Nanotech Venture Fair, September 2002
• Panelist, "Patented Medicines: Bringing Life-Saving Drugs to the Developing World," April 19, 2002