About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

30 Biotechnology L. Rep. 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/bothnl30 and id is 1 raw text is: Bertram Rowland, 1930-2010 Bertram Rowland, one of the giants of biotechnol- ogy intellectual property law, died on October 29 of pancreatic cancer. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from UCLA, a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the University of Washington, and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He began his patent law ca- reer attending the evening division of the Washington Law School while being part of the duPont corporate Washington training program. During his career, he worked with numerous law firms, helped found sev- eral biotechnology companies, and wrote and prose- cuted more than 500 patents, the most famous of which is U.S. 4,237,224, known as the Cohen/Boyer cloning patent, which describes the delivery of foreign DNA into a cell to confer desirable properties. The patent has been licensed to more than 450 companies and reaped $300 million in royalties. Rowland also wrote and prosecuted U.S. 5,107,065, disclosing the use of antisense sequences to control gene expression; 5,061,620, claiming human hemato- poietic stem cells; and a series of patents (4,471,130; 4,594,439; and 4,900,847) on catalytic asymmetric ex- poxidation, a critical technique in drug synthesis that helped earn its coinventor the Nobel Prize for Chem- istry in 2001. In a tribute to Rowland published by the George Washington University Law School, Rowland is quoted as saying that Cohen initially insisted that the rDNA technique had no commercial value but that he would go along with filing a patent if his coworker Boyer thought that was a good idea. Having agreed to join in, Cohen then pointed out to Rowland that the technique could be used, not only in bacteria, as in the initial draft of the patent, but in eukaryotes and that viruses as well as plasmids could be used to transfer genetic informa- tion. The claims expanded during prosecution after the decision handed down in the Chakrabarty case made it clear living cells were patentable subject matter, not just the plasmids. After the patent issued and interest in it multiplied, Rowland was forced to say that his office was not a copying service and someone else would have to make all the photocopies that were being requested. Initially, this was done by the Stanford University Of- fice of Technology Licensing, but eventually, the Patent and Trademark Office was persuaded to open the file so persons interested in licensing the technology could make their own copies. During his career, Rowland was a partner at Townsend and Townsend and later at Flehr, Hohbach, Test Albritton & Herbert. He also served as general counsel for several biotechnology companies and helped to found several more. He also loved gardening, hiking (he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro when he was 70), and chess. A memorial is scheduled for 2:00 on November 28 at the Notre Dame de Namur University campus in Belmont. The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Stanford University Oncology Research Funds rather than being spent on flowers. 1 30 Biotechnology Law Report 1 Number 1, 2011 © Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/bir.2011.9981 In Memoriam

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most