Irving, Thomas L.

Tom Irving has more than 46 years of experience in the field of intellectual property law. His practice includes America Invents Act (AIA) post-grant proceedings, due diligence, counseling, patent prosecution, and reissue and reexamination. He counsels clients on a wide range of mainly pharmaceutical matters, including pre-litigation, Orange Book listings of patents covering FDA-approved drugs, infringement issues, enforceability and validity analysis.


I am fortunate to be in the IAM Life Sciences Hall of Fame, to have received in 2023 from Howard Law School's Intellectual Property & Social Justice Institute, the IP Social Justice Lifetime Achievement Award, to have been named in 2022 Titan of the Bar by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), and to have received from the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Patent Prosecutor of the Year for 2022.

I have been extensively involved in counseling, due diligence, prosecution and prelitigation matters involving major drugs such as Kalydeco®, Orkambi®, Aloxi®, Tecfidera®, Lorcaserin®,Pulmicort®, Respules®, Taxotere®, Eloxatin®, Lantus®, Crestor®, Targretin®, Brilinta®, Halaven®,Allegra®, Apidra®, Epiduo Gel®, Rilutek®, Ramipril®, Jakafi®, Duexis®, Viracept®, KEVEYIS®, and, prior to FDA approval, other drugs such as Rimonabant®, VX-661, and HMPL 0004®. He successfully reissued the patent for the low molecular weight heparin drug, Lovenox®, a blockbuster product, and represented targets Agouron and Principia Biopharma in deals garnering $2.1 and $3.68 billion USD , as publicly reported.

I strive to be an expert in substantive U.S. Patent Law. To that end, I have taught, extensively over the years, Bar Associations, such as the AIPLA, Intellectual Property Owners (IPO), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Kansas State Bar, the North Carolina Bar, the Carolina Patent and Trademark Association, CAIL in Plano Texas, and the Ohio State Bar Association, as well as CLE providers, particularly Strafford, for whom I have presented about 200 programs and the now defunct Patent Resources Group, for whom I taught many courses for over 30 years. I have lectured at many law schools in the U.S., including Duke Law School, Harvard Law School, Penn Law School, Emory Law School, Georgia State Law School, Georgia Law School, Dayton Law School, the University of Utah Law School, and BYU Law School. I have presented countless inhouse seminars to clients and potential clients. I have also lectured to patent examiners at China's SIPO and taught at law schools in the PRC.