Bio
Professor Jeffrey Lefstin graduated from Brown University, Sc.B., Biology, magna cum laude (1989); University of California, San Francisco, Ph.D., Biochemistry (1997); and Stanford Law School , J.D., Order of the Coif (2000). He teaches and writes about patent and intellectual property law. He joined the UC Law SF faculty in 2003 after serving as a law clerk to Judge Raymond C. Clevenger, III, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC. Prior to his clerkship, he practiced patent and antitrust law with the biotechnology and litigation groups at Townsend, Townsend & Crew in San Francisco.
In his previous life he was a molecular biologist, studying mammalian gene regulatory mechanisms and DNA-protein interactions. His scientific papers appeared in Nature, Genes & Development, and the Journal of Molecular Biology. His current research focuses on the intellectual architecture of patent law and problems of interpretation in patent litigation. He has served as an expert witness on patent law matters, and lectured for Patent Bar Review courses.
Education
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Stanford Law School
J.D., Law 2000 -
University of California, San Francisco
Ph.D., Biochemistry 1997 -
Brown University
Sc.B., Biology 1989
Selected Scholarship
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Final Report of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Section 101 Workshop: Addressing Patent Eligibility Challenges
Berkeley Technology Law Journal 2018 -
The Three Faces of Prometheus: A Post-Alice Jurisprudence of Abstractions
North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology 2015 -
Inventive Application: A History
Florida Law Review 2014 -
In re Roslin Institute: Products of Nature and Source Limitations,
N.T.U.T Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Management 2014 -
The Constitution of Patent Law: The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the Shape of the Federal Circuit’s Jurisprudence
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 2010 -
The Formal Structure of Patent Law and the Limits of Enablement
Berkley Technology Law Journal 2008