Amy Smith

Chihang Amy Smith is an Associate in the Intellectual Property group at Rimon Law. Dr. Smith focuses on procuring and protecting intellectual property rights for clients. She has prosecuted patent applications before the U.S. and foreign patent offices and managed patent portfolios focused on small molecule pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, drug delivery systems, chemical processes, bio-materials, medical devices and mechanical devices. She has rendered opinions on patentability, freedom to operate, non-infringement and invalidity. In addition, she has conducted due diligence in support of IP transactions, and has negotiated and drafted IP transaction agreements.

Dr. Smith received her B.S. in biology from MIT, her Ph.D. in geochemistry from Cal Tech, and a J.D. from Indiana University. She is a member of the California Bar, and is also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Before her legal career, Dr. Smith worked for sixteen years as a research scientist for The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences. She developed a strong knowledge of chemical engineering and material sciences while supporting both production and research in chemical processes, polymers, membranes, composites, metals, coating, and catalysts as the leader of an analytical laboratory for The Dow Chemical Company. In addition, Dr. Smith gained expertise in small organic molecule research and regulatory matters while leading efforts to develop methods for the quantitative analysis of pesticide residues in plant and animal matrices.

Dr. Smith focused on intellectual property law while in law school, and has practiced IP law for over seventeen years. She began her legal career at Woodard Emhart, a premier IP boutique firm in Indianapolis, and later joined Paul Hastings, a renowned international law firm, in their San Diego Office. Dr. Smith has worked on IP projects for small to medium life science companies, which include patent procurement and re-examination, due diligence for licensing transactions, validity and infringement opinions, and patent litigation support.

After six years in private practice, Dr. Smith went in house to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and later joined the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation—a discovery research division of Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation. As in-house patent counsel, Dr. Smith focused on procuring U.S. and worldwide patent rights for small molecule pharmaceutical inventions, due diligence for in-licensing targets, reviewing, negotiating and drafting IP transaction agreements, advising business and scientific leaders on IP risks, and training scientists on IP topics.

Dr. Smith is fluent in written Chinese (simplified and complex) and is a native Cantonese Chinese speaker.