Cheryl H. Agris, PhD

PRACTICE AREAS Cheryl H. Agris, PhD provides services in all aspects of intellectual property law. She works with both for profit and non-profit entities and investors on worldwide patent portfolio management, corporate transactions and IP due diligence. In particular, she provides freedom to operate analyses from a business development and R&D view, which includes conducting and supplementing patent document searches and works with clients on patent prosecution strategies and prepares and reviews a wide array of agreements (e.g., licensing, consortium, sponsored research, joint development).  In a related aspect, Dr. Agris provides consulting services as a peer reviewer of patent documents and as a patent expert.   Dr. Agris also prepares and prosecutes U.S. patent and trademark applications and oversees the filing and prosecution of foreign patent and trademark applications. Furthermore, Dr. Agris has practiced in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as an arbitrator since 2000 and as a mediator since 2004; she is a member of the AAA, CPR, FINRA, WIPO, ICC, NFA, NAM and various NY and NJ state court panels, as well as a Fellow of the Charter Institute of Arbitration and a member of  the Tech List of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE Dr. Agris obtained a B.A. in Chemistry from Goucher College and Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at the Johns Hopkins University.  From March 1986 to March 1988, she was a research fellow at the Sloan Kettering Institute. Dr. Agris was a law clerk from March 1988-May 1992, with the biotechnology group at Pennie and Edmonds, while attending Brooklyn Law School. Dr. Agris became a patent agent in 1990 and obtained a J.D. degree in June 1992. Dr. Agris was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1992 and the New York bar in 1993. From May 1992-March 1998, Dr. Agris was a Patent Attorney at Novo Nordisk of North America.  Dr. Agris has been in private practice since March 1998 and became a partner in Agris and von Natzmer, LLP in 2012.

PUBLICATIONS AND LECTURES Dr. Agris has participated in the preparation and prosecution of more than 275 US patents. She was the principal author of the Practitioner’s Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, an annotated version of the MPEP and the Practitioner Patent Guidelines, a compilation of resource material from the US Patent and Trademark Office with commentary, both published by Thomson-Reuters and has published articles on a variety of patent issues such as patenting DNA and protein sequences, IP protection for plants, deposit of microorganisms, ADR and international patent filing. Dr. Agris has given presentations on patent law and ADR matters at events sponsored by the New York State Bar Association, Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center, International Institute of Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), Practicing Law Institute, New York Academy of Sciences, Biotechnology Industrial Organization, New York Biotechnology Association, National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP), Law Seminars International, International Intellectual Property Society, Westchester and Nassau County Bar Associations, and Eastern New York Intellectual Property Law Association.  A list of representative published patent applications, issued patents, legal related publications and lectures are attached.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Dr. Agris is currently a member of the Arbitration and ADR Committees of the NY City Bar association and of the Board of Managers of the Eastern New York Intellectual Property Law Association. She has served on the Executive Committee of the New York Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association (co-chair of the technology resources committee), as the Chair and vice Chair of the Membership Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and previously as a member of the International Disputes and Patent Committees  of the NY City Bar.  Dr. Agris also served as an instructor in “Ideas to IPO” course sponsored by New York Academy of Sciences in 2007 and 2011, at the Practicing Law Institute’s Annual Patent Prosecution Workshop: Advanced Claim Drafting and Amendment Writing from 1998-2004 and 2016-2017 and Securities Law Institute in 2019 and 2022.  She also coordinated and served as an instructor on the “Nuts and Bolts of Patent Prosecution” offered by National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP) from 2000-2004, as well as serving as a member of their Board of Directors and Chair of the Education Committee from 1999-2003.