Frank X. Curci Member

Mr. Curci is Chair of the firm's Biotechnology & Life Sciences Industry Group and the firm's Intellectual Property Department. He represents clients in domestic and international intellectual property and technology matters, including patent/technology licensing, technology/research collaborations and consortia, technology commercialization matters, and the overall use and protection of intellectual property rights. He advises clients in many industry sectors, including life sciences research institutions, bioscience industry companies, universities, foundations, semiconductor-industry companies, software companies, and other technology industry companies.

In particular, he counsels universities/research institutions, their foundations, and bioscience companies concerning technology licenses, research collaborations, sponsored research, other multi-party collaborations, material transfers, clinical trial agreements, other technology commercialization matters, and the formation of spin outs/accelerators. He has earned a national reputation representing technology companies and other entities in their participation in technology standards initiatives and other multi-party technology collaborations and consortia.

Since 1996, Mr. Curci has been an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching intellectual property law courses at California, Oregon and Arizona law schools. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, teaching ‘High Technology Licensing.' Previously, he taught at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, and at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where he taught 'International Intellectual Property Law' and other intellectual property courses. Mr. Curci was a visiting attorney at a Tokyo, Japan law firm in the early 1990s and his practice has had an international component since that time. He writes and lectures on domestic and international intellectual property and technology issues relevant to the bioscience and technology industries.

Mr. Curci is one of the first Arizona attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2009-2010 in the category of Biotechnology Law (published by Woodward/White, Inc). He is also listed in The Best
Lawyers in America®, 2009-2010 in the category of Technology Law.

Education

• J.D., Fordham Law School, 1984
  The Fordham International Law Journal, Member
• B.A., Manhattan College, New York City, Government & Urban Affairs, 1981
  
  summa cum laude
  
  Phi Beta Kappa

Professional Affiliations

• Arizona BioIndustry Association
  Vice Chair, 2010 - present
  Board of Directors, Member, 2009 - present
  Greater Phoenix Leadership Board, Member, 2008 - present
  Regional Bridges Committee, Co-Chair, 2009 - present
  Events Committee, Co-Chair, 2008 - present
  
• ASU Technopolis
  Board of Advisors, 2008 - present
  Commercializing Life Sciences Conference, Co-Organizer, 2005 - present
  
• Flinn Foundation
  Investment & Capital Formation Subcommittee of Arizona Biotechnology Roadmap Committee, Member, 2006 - Present
  
• The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)
  Member
  
• American Bar Association
  Intellectual Property Law Section, Member
  

Presentations

• Moderator & Co-Organizer, "Standards and Consortia Roundtable," Arizona State University (January 2010)

• Co-Speaker, "Intellectual Property Advantage: Protecting Your Company's Most Valuable and Vulnerable Assets," Phoenix Thunderbird Chapter of the National Contract Management Association, co-presented with Bradley Hartman (November 2009)

• Co-Speaker, "The Art and Science of Valuing a Bioscience Company: Early Stage Valuation," Commercializing Life Sciences Forum, co-presented with Ron King of CatapultBio and Ron Epperson of Intellectual Energy, LLC (September 2009)

• Speaker, "Innovative Life Sciences Collaborations & Consortia as Models for Growth," Oregon Bioscience Association Annual Conference (May 2009); BIOZONA 2009, Arizona's Annual Bioscience Industry Conference (April 2009)

• Co-Speaker, "Creative Multiparty Research Collaborations," Commercializing Life Sciences Conference, co-presented with Steven Van Nurden of Mayo Clinic and Dr. Carlos Encinas of Cedar-Sinai Medical Center (October 2008)

• Speaker, “Standards-Setting and Other Multi-Party Collaborative Technology Consortia,” Law Seminars International: IP Licensing 2008 (March 2008) and (August 2008)

• Speaker, “Risks Associated with Using Open Source Software and Need for Internal Open Source Compliance Programs,” Law Seminars International: Current Issues in Complex IP Licensing (March 2008)

• Co-Speaker, “Key Factors to Consider When Commercializing Technology,” Commercializing Arizona Life Sciences Conference, co-presented with Dr. Ron King of Translational Genomics Research Institute (October 2007)

• Speaker, “Key Legal Issues to Consider When Licensing Technology,” Business Law Section, Arizona State Bar (January 2007); Maricopa County Bar Association, Corporate Counsel Division (November 2006); Northern Arizona University (February 2006); and Oregon BioScience Association (January 2005)

• Speaker, "Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights,” Commercializing Arizona Life Sciences conference (April 2006); and Northern Arizona University (February 2006)
  

• Speaker, “Patent Pools: An Innovative Approach for Commercializing Biotechnology Patents,” Arizona BioIndustry Association (November 2005)

• Speaker, "Legal Considerations for Participation in Technology Standards-Setting Organizations," Best Practices in Standards Setting Seminars (March 2005), (October 2004) and (March 2004); and Rocky Mt. Intellectual Property & Technology Institute conference (April 2005)

• Panelist, "Managing Informatics Innovation at the University-Industry Interface," 2005 Annual Conference of Association of University Technology Managers (February 2005)

• Speaker, “Post-Research Collaboration Between Research Institutes,” the Association of Independent Research Institutes-California Conference, Salk Institute (September 2004)

• Speaker, "Key Intellectual Property & Other Considerations for Bridging the Gap Between Research & Technology Commercialization," Bay Area Conference on Translational Research (September 2004)

• Speaker, "Technology Commercialization: Fundamental Intellectual Property Considerations," Legacy Health System (October 2003) and Oregon Health & Science University (April 2003)

• Speaker, "Technology Transfer: Moving Innovations from Academia to Industry," Life Sciences Lecture Series of San Francisco Women's Technology Cluster (September 2003)

• Speaker, "Fundamental Intellectual Property Issues Affecting Governmental Agencies,” Government Technology Conference (September 2003)

• Speaker, "Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights Overseas," Intellectual Property Seminar of the Oregon State Bar (April 2003); 8th Annual Intellectual Property Institute of the Washington State Bar (March 2003); and Software Association of Oregon (September 2002)

• Speaker, "Fundamental Intellectual Property Issues Affecting State Lotteries," Oregon State Lottery (December 2002)

• Panelist, "Relationships Between the Licensee or Sponsor and the University," Western Regional Conference of the Association of University Technology Managers (July 2002)

• Speaker, "Protecting Your Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents & Trade Secrets Overseas," 20th Annual International Law Symposium, McGeorge School of Law (March 2001)

• Speaker, "The European Union Community Trademark," Second Annual Conference on Intellectual Property in the Global Marketplace (1998)

Community Activities

• Adjunct Professor, “High Technology Licensing” course at Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (August 2006 - present)

• Adjunct Professor, “Licensing & Technology Transfer” and “International Intellectual Property Law” courses, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, OR (Spring 2002 and January 2004 - April 2005)

• Adjunct Professor, “International Intellectual Property Law” course, McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific, Sacramento, CA (January 1996 - May 2003)

• Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law, Center For The Study of Law, Science & Technology, Advisory Board Member (2008 - present)

Honors, Appointments and Awards

• AV Rating®, Martindale-Hubbell
  

• AB Top Lawyer, Intellectual Property Law, Arizona Business Magazine, 2008, 2009

• Included in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2009-2010, published by Woodward/White, Inc. in the categories of Biotechnology Law and Technology Law