Tom Irving on Litigating 1st Hatch-Waxman Case & Mentoring 1000s in Patent Field

Eli is joined by the legend of the patent bar, the virtuoso of Federal Circuit decisions – Tom Irving. They discuss the rise of the pharmaceutical patent practice, the creation and current state of the Federal Circuit, why and how Tom mentored 1000s of patent attorneys, best practices for patent prosecution, and much more!

• Chief Judge Moore’s efforts to oust Judge Newman

• How Tom ended up practicing patent law

• Why there are so many patent attorneys from and in Utah

• Joining Finnegan, Henderson in the 70s

• How general patent practice firms getting into patent law spurred the growth of the pharma patent practice

• Working on the first Hatch-Waxman litigation

• Stories about helping pharma start-ups build multibillion dollar patent portfolios

• Advice for building valuable patent portfolios

• Why pharma patents generally manage to survive PTAB proceedings

• The cost of drugs

• How Tom predicted issues raised by Salazar v. AT&T Mobility LLC

• Whether the Federal Circuit should issue more en banc decisions

• Should the Federal Circuit be responsible for uniformity in decisions?

• Being law firm partners with Judge Kara Stoll

• Being mentored by PJ Federico and others

• Advice for mentoring others

• Who should consider retiring

• Tom’s retirement plans in 2054