Suzannah K. Sundby
Suzannah K. Sundby is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.
Ms. Sundby has extensive experience in patent preparation and prosecution of inventions
across diverse technologies including biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmaceuticals,
microfluidics, diagnostics, medical devices and nanotechnology. Her
legal practice involves patent preparation and prosecution, licensing, opinion work,
client counseling and litigation. Ms. Sundby has experience assisting start-up biotech
companies with the preparation and prosecution of their foundation patents,
nondisclosure agreements and related IP issues.
Ms. Sundby taught advanced biotech patent preparation and prosecution as an
Adjunct Professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Before entering the legal field,
Ms. Sundby helped map the Drosophila genome as a member of the University of
California’s Berkeley Drosophila Genome Group.
Ms. Sundby holds a B.S. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and, in addition to
earning a Juris Doctor, she earned a Master of Intellectual Property.
Other Publications and Presentations
- “Mastering the Intricacies of USPTO Practice Post-Patent Reform: Supervisory Patent Examiners Weigh In,” American Conference Institute’s Advanced Summit on Medical Device Patents, Boston, MA, February 2012.
- “The Impact of Recent Patent Law Cases and Developments”, Inside the Minds, 2012 Edition.
- “How to Get Your Slice of the Functional Food Pie: Patenting Functional Foods and Other Nutraceuticals in the United States,” BIO KOREA 2011 Conference, Seoul, Korea, September 2011.
- “Compacting Prosecution by Interviews: A View From Outside the USPTO,” Presentation to Examiner Corps of U.S. Patent & Trademark Office by invitation of David Kappos, the Under Secretary of - Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, February 2011.
- “Drafting and Prosecuting Successful Patent Applications in the U.S. and Abroad
in an Evolving Biotech Patent Landscape,” 12th Advanced Forum on Biotech Patents,
American Conference Institute, Boston, MA, December 2010.
- “Patenting Biotech Sequences: What’s Happened and What To Do Now”, Webinar for the Maryland State Bar Association, November 18, 2009.
- “Do You Really Want to (Attempt to) Patent That”, American Conference Institute, 9th Advanced Forum on Biotech Patents: Analysis, Insights and Strategies for New Challenges in Biotech Patent Practice, September 2007.
- “Protecting Proprietary Information — Deciding Whether to File for a Patent”, American Conference Institute, 9th Advanced Forum on Biotech Patents: Analysis, Insights and Strategies for New Challenges in Biotech Patent Practice, Boston, MA, September 2007.
- “Biotech and Nanotech Patent Application and Prosecution Strategies”, Government Intellectual Property Law Association (GIPLA), Washington, DC, January 2007.
- “Patent Landscape of H5N1 Influenza Virus”, prepared for the World Health Organization, team member, 2007.
- “How to Lose Your Patent Rights”, Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc. (FITCI), Frederick, MD, October 2006.
- “How to Work with Difficult…To Turn an Idea into a Patentable Invention”, American Chemical Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, March 2006.
- “Technology Licensing - From First Steps to Executing a Plan”, Internat’l BioPharm, Volume 17(5), May 2005.
- “Biotech Patents”, Indo-US Symposium on Infectious Disease Research and Development, Bangalore, India, 2004.
- “IP Law Considerations: Aspects for Small and Medium Enterprises” Asia Pacific Tech Monitor, July-August 2004.
