Courtenay C. Brinckerhoff
Partner
Courtenay Brinckerhoff is an intellectual property lawyer, assisting international clients with all aspects of obtaining, defending, evaluating, licensing, and enforcing patents; and conducting freedom-to-operate and due diligence investigations. She is a partner and vice chair of the firm鈥檚 Intellectual Property Department, as well as the editor and primary author for 麻豆传媒鈥檚聽PharmaPatentsBlog.com, where she analyzes evolving patent office practices and precedential court decisions on emerging legal issues.
For more than 25 years, Courtenay has represented clients in diverse industries before the U.S. Patent Office, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has successfully represented clients in complex patent matters, including four-party interference,聽Inter partes聽Reexaminations,聽Inter partes聽Reviews, and ANDA litigation.
Courtenay works with clients across the chemical and biotechnology industries, including on innovations for pharmaceuticals and drug-device products, human and animal food products and nutraceuticals, and industrial technologies. Clients trust Courtenay to secure critical intellectual patent rights, including patents intended for listing in the Orange Book or eligible for listing in the Purple Book.
She has particular experience with transdermal pharmaceutical products (patches, gels, and liquids), oral dosage forms (including controlled/extended-release formulations), enzyme-based technologies, microbial technologies, diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies, active and passive immunization therapies, and personalized medicine, as well as with industrial films, carbon nanotube technologies, biofuels, and carbon capture technologies.
Courtenay has served as vice chair of the firm鈥檚 Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice and is an active member of the firm鈥檚 PTAB Trials Practice and Life Sciences Industry Team.
Prior to joining 麻豆传媒 as an associate, Courtenay clerked for the Honorable Alvin Anthony Schall on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prior to her clerkship, she worked at 麻豆传媒 as a patent agent and law clerk.
Awards and Recognition
- Stand-out Lawyer, Thomson Reuters (2025-2026)
- The Best Lawyers in America漏, Patent Law (2021-2024) and Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice (2023-2024)
- IP Distinguished Alumni Award from George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School (April 2017)
- JD Supra聽Readers鈥 Choice Top Author (2017-2021) in the categories of pharmaceutical industry and patents for her work on the聽笔丑补谤尘补笔补迟别苍迟蝉听blog
- IAM Patent 1000 – The World鈥檚 Leading Patent Practitioners, patent prosecution (2014-2016, 2020-2021, 2024-2025)
- Top Women in IP, Managing IP聽(2015)
- IP Star, Managing IP聽(2015)
Affiliations
- Board Member, PTAB Bar Association (2026)
Thought Leadership
Courtenay writes and speaks on topics important to clients in chemical, biotechnological, pharmaceutical, food, and personalized medicine industries. She has been an invited speaker at the AIPLA Annual Meeting, the FDLI Annual Meeting, the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association annual meeting, the PTAB Bar Association annual meeting, and the annual Advanced Patent Law Institute presented by the University of Texas School of Law, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.
Courtenay currently serves as a Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association Patent Office Practice Committee and as a Vice Chair of the Appeals to the PTAB Committee of the PTAB Bar Association.
Courtenay has been following U.S. patent reform since its inception, and she and other 麻豆传媒 colleagues co-authored the treatise,聽America Invents Act: Law & Analysis聽(Wolters Kluwer 2012). The interface between patent law and FDA law is another area of interest, and she has written and spoken on issues including patent term extension, the scope of the Hatch-Waxman 鈥渟afe harbor,鈥 the ANDA litigation framework, and the biosimilars BPCIA framework.
New USPTO 鈥淧re-Docketing Notice鈥 Pilot Program Could Streamline Examination
Courtenay Brinckerhoff Reappointed to PTAB Bar Association Leadership
Flexibility Versus Indefiniteness: What It鈥檚 All About
USPTO to Take a Piercing Look at National Stage Applications
USPTO Invites Patent Owner Input To Stem Tide Of Reexamination Proceedings
