John Will Ongman

Partner

John Ongman has a practice that emphasizes intellectual property and regulatory matters, including FDA and antitrust issues.  He is a member of the firm’s BioMedical Practice Group.

Mr. Ongman has extensive litigation and international experience regarding intellectual property.  He has litigated major cases before federal courts and administrative bodies, including patent infringement cases before various U.S. district courts and Section 337 cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission.  He has represented clients concerning patentability and interference matters before the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, and in challenges to USPTO actions before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  Over the course of his career, he also has had substantial experience in international transactions focused in Canada, China, Japan, Western Europe, countries of the former Soviet Union, and South America.

Mr. Ongman's intellectual property practice includes a wide range of industries, including clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device and electrical equipment industries.  He has represented both companies and private equity firms in building and assessing patent portfolios to support company funding in capital markets.  He also has represented early stage, middle market and large companies in proactively employing their intellectual property for strategic advantage in the marketplace.  He has rendered patentability, validity and infringement opinions and has been engaged in patent prosecution and due diligence matters.  He is licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Ongman also has advised pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and food manufacturers on a range of issues governed by the Food and Drug Administration.  These representations have included advice on new drug applications, investigational new drug applications, abbreviated new drug applications, clinical trials, current good manufacturing practices, labeling requirements and pre-market notifications and applications. He also has counseled clients regarding the impact of regulatory matters on product liability lawsuits.  He has advised clients on market exclusivity issues flowing from the Hatch-Waxman Act as manifested both in private federal court proceedings and in Federal Trade Commission investigations.

He also represents clients operating or interacting with electric, telecommunications and transportation networks with respect to antitrust, regulatory and intellectual property matters. He has been active in litigation before a range of federal agencies and courts.  Many of these cases involved regulated industries and were among the signature regulatory/antitrust cases in the history of the telecommunications, railroad and electric utility industries. In his antitrust practice, he represents clients in civil nonmerger investigations conducted by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and in private antitrust litigation and counseling.

Mr. Ongman was educated as a scientist before turning to the law and has worked and taught in major research universities.  He started his career as a Research Associate in Cardiac Electrophysiology in the Reingold ECG Center of Northwestern University’s School of Medicine as part of an interdisciplinary team focusing on cardiac drug discovery.  He stays active in the scientific field as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, where he has taught in the Biotechnology Program in the Medical School and is currently teaching in the Industrial Leadership in Physics Program in the Graduate School.  He also has served on the Intellectual Property Counsels’ Committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.  He organized the program at the Fall 2005 meeting of the Committee, which focused on U.S. patent reform and various international patent issues.

Bar & Court Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York
• Illinois
• Multiple federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit and the Court of International Trade
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Education

• Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, 1976 J.D., cum laude, Order of the Coif and editor, Law Review.
• University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1973 M.S., Physics (General Electric Fellow and Ph.D. course work completed).
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1972 B.S., Engineering Sciences, with highest distinction.

Publications

• An Overview of FDA Regulation: What the Canadian Biomedical Industry Needs to Know, November 8, 2006

Seminars & Classes

• Adjunct Professor of Physics, Georgetown University, 2003 - present
• Lecturer in Biotechnology, Georgetown University Medical School, 2003

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association: Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Public Utility Sections
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Intellectual Property Law Association