Richard C. Peet

Partner/Retired

Richard C. Peet

Partner/Retired

Richard Peet, Ph.D., is a retired partner and was an intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. He counseled clients in the areas of patent and trademark procurement and enforcement as well as structuring license and joint venture deals, with a focus on technological developments in the fields of chemistry, nanotechnology and biotechnology. Dr. Peet has extensive experience in assisting clients with worldwide patent protection strategies as well as U.S. patent interferences, patent litigation and appellate practice. He is former chair of the firm’s International and formerly named Chemical & Pharmaceutical Practices. He was also a member of the Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice and the Life Sciences Industry Team.

Dr. Peet has represented clients in numerous patent enforcement litigations involving complex technologies in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Many of these litigations have involved development of worldwide patent strategies.

Dr. Peet has supervised more than 75 intellectual property due diligence projects related to acquisitions ranging in value from $70 million to more than $900 million. Dr. Peet has conducted intellectual property due diligence on behalf of numerous venture capital companies. The technologies involved in these transactions include biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical device, nanotechnology and agriculture. Dr. Peet has represented foreign companies seeking to purchase U.S. assets as well as U.S. companies acquiring foreign assets. During the course of these projects, he has coordinated the legal work of foreign law firms on behalf of his clients and worked as a member of large due diligence teams.

Before entering the practice of law, Dr. Peet was a research scientist with the Department of Microbiology, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Sandoz.

 

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Peet has been Peer Review Rated in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system and was named a “Leading Lawyers in Life Sciences” by The Legal Times in April, 2006. In 2003, he earned an honorable mention for his legal work in IP Law & Business magazine’s listing of the top ten patent lawyers. Dr. Peet also has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2008 for his work in technology law and biotechnology law and was named 2014 Biotechnology Law Lawyer of the Year. In 2010 – 2012, he was recognized by the Legal 500 for patent prosecution: utility and design patents.

Affiliations

  • Dr. Peet is adjunct faculty in the School of Management at George Mason University, where he teaches courses in intellectual property law. He has published and presented numerous articles and papers on his research in microbiology, molecular biology, as well as intellectual property issues in the area of chemistry and biotechnology.
  • Dr. Peet is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, American Society of Plant Biology, American Chemical Association, American Bar Association and American Intellectual Property Law Association and serves on the board of the Virginia Biotechnology Association.

Publications and Presentations

  • Peet et al., “Protein Production in Plants” (PCT/US14/42245, filed June 13, 2014)
  • Co-author, Intellectual Property Law of Plants, Oxford University Press (March 2014)
  • Co-author, ”The Future of Biotechnology Patents in the European Union,” Intellectual Property Watch (August 17, 2010)

Languages

  • Dutch
  • Spanish
  • French