Gregory Zayia, Ph.D.

Gregory Zayia, Ph.D. has over 20 years of experience in the preparation and prosecution of domestic and international patent applications across diverse technologies, with particular emphasis on the chemical arts. During the course of his career, Dr. Zayia has cultivated a deep understanding of what it takes to translate creativity into robust and enforceable patents that can be leveraged and monetized—particularly in the pharmaceutical space.

Dr. Zayia is highly experienced in all aspects of the patent procurement process. His practice includes preparing, filing, and prosecuting patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; handling appeals and oral arguments before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; conducting post-grant proceedings—including re-examinations and reissues—of granted U.S. patents; performing strategic analyses of third-party patent assets to assess patent strength, validity, and/or freedom-to-operate; conducting all manner of searches of the worldwide patent and scientific literature, including determinations of patentability, invalidity, and freedom-to-operate; assisting clients with on-site invention disclosure harvesting; overseeing the filing and prosecution of foreign patent applications through a network of trusted associates; and advising clients on all aspects of patent portfolio strategy.

Although his focus is primarily on patent procurement, Dr. Zayia also provides technical counsel on pure and applied organic chemistry in support of litigation.

In addition to his specialization in the chemical arts, Dr. Zayia has extensive prosecution experience in other technical fields including biotechnology, genetically modified plants, mechanical engineering, polymer science, medical devices, food science, fuel cells, semiconductors, business methods, finance, and telecommunications.

Upon completion of his graduate research, Dr. Zayia began his career as a patent agent with Brinks Gilson & Lione in Chicago. His scientific discovery of the first general method for direct formylation of kinetically-generated ketone enolates is published in Organic Letters, and he is responsible for introducing 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl formate (Zayia’s Reagent) into the repertoire of synthetic organic chemists. He is also the editor of Ricci on Glissando: The Shortcut to Violin Technique, published by Indiana University Press.