People•April M. Wurster
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April M. Wurster

People•April M. Wurster

April focuses her practice in intellectual property and life science. She uses cross-functional knowledge and experience to build a thorough understanding of the company's business, employees, products, customers and competitors to provide strategic guidance. April works in new subject matter areas on a daily basis, assimilates information quickly and develops a deep understanding in those areas.

April’s extensive patent protection experience includes working with inventors to identify patentable inventions, drafting patent applications, prosecuting patents and providing freedom to operate analyses. Her trademark protection experience includes assisting clients with trademark filing and prosecution, as well as ensuring proper trademark usage on product marketing materials. April also has experience assisting clients with intellectual property matters related to licenses, assignments, strategic alliances, acquisitions and joint ventures. Additionally, April draws upon her broad experience with each aspect of the litigation lifecycle (from filing and discovery to jury trial or settlements) for litigation relating to trademark, copyright and patents, to serve as a trusted advisor.

  • Former general counsel to a San Francisco based oncology diagnostic company overseeing the legal team and serving as a key advisor to the board
  • Oversaw a San Diego based diagnostic company’s intellectual property strategy and enforcement, including protection of new ideas, management of the company’s patent and trademark portfolio, and working with business units to ensure intellectual property is identified and protected including IP assessments for the release of four COVID-19 detection assays in 2020
  • Managed a San Diego based medical device company’s IP portfolio by working directly with engineers and scientists to identify patentable inventions, filing patent applications, conducting freedom-to-operate searches, analyzing office actions from the USPTO and foreign patent offices and preparing responses

  • University of California, Hastings College of Law (J.D., 2003)
    • Intellectual Property Organization
  • University of California, San Diego (M.S., Molecular Biology, 2000)
  • University of California, San Diego (B.S., Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 1999)

  • Athena, Women in STEM 
    • FEW, Member
  • SunLaw
  • Wallace Inns of Court, Founding Member (2004)

  • “Legal and Business Considerations When Negotiating a Master Services Agreement,” Presenter, SBDC @ University of California, Irvine Beall Applied Innovation Incubator (February 8, 2022) 
  • “Use of Research Tools May Expose Companies to Patent Infringement Claims," Co-Author, IPWatchdog (January 25, 2022)
  • “Keeping Valuable IP When a Key Employee Jumps to a Competitor," Co-Author, Today's General Counsel (January 24, 2022)
  • "Steps a Company Can Take To Help Ensure Intellectual Property Does Not Leave With a Departing Employee," Episode Host, CalCurrent Podcast (November 11, 2021)
  • "IP Fall Institute: Hot Topics in Patent Case Law Review," Presenter, ABA IP West 2020 Conference (October 1, 2020)
  • "Lego Patent Challenge," Presenter, Association for Women in Science San Diego (AWIS-SD) Women in Science and Technology (WIST) 2019 Conference (October 19, 2019)
  • "Conversations with Life Science Leaders," Presenter, California State University, San Marcos (February 2019)
  • “Getting Your Staff to Use Trademarks Properly and Effectively,” Co-Author, International In-house Counsel Journal Vol. 6, No. 23 (Spring 2013)
  • "Retention Issues For Woman In IP," Presenter, American Intellectual Property Law Association Women in IP (February 2009)
  • "Trademark Issues: What SEMs Should Know," Presenter, Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo (August 2008)
  • “Know Trademark Protocol for SEMs,” Co-Author, DM News (April 7, 2008)
  • “Willful Infringement Is A State of Mind,” Co-Author, Global Intellectual Property Asset Management Report (August 2006)
  • “Genetic Discrimination: Health Insurance For The Genetically Lucky And The Genetically Unlucky,” Co-Author, Medical Trial Techniques Quarterly (July 2004)
  • “Genetic Discrimination In Insurance Law: An Ethical Perspective,” Co-Author, Medical Trial Techniques Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4, 95-119 (2004)
  • "Current Issues In Biotech: 271(e)(l)," Presenter, Western School of Law (March 5, 2005) 
  • “Will The Federal Circuit Eliminate The Opinion Letter Requirement?” Co-Author, The Daily Transcript (May 4, 2004)
  • "Adverse Inferences in Willful Patent Infringement Cases – The Knorr-Bremse Issue," Presenter, Orange County Patent Law Association (March 27, 2004) 
  • "PGD – Does it 'Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts?'" Presenter, Stanford Law School (February 27, 2004)
  • “Epidermal Stem Cell Frequency: A Novel In Vivo Functional Assay,” Co-Author, The American Society of Cell Biology (2003) 
  • “Measuring Stem Cell Frequency I Epidermis: A Quantitative In Vivo Functional Assay For Long-Term Repopulating Cells,” Co-Author, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 100(20):11412-7 (September 30, 2003)
  • “Stem Cell Frequency In Murine Epidermis: A Novel In Vivo Functional Assay For Epidermal Stem Cells,” Co-Author, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (September 2003)
  • “A Novel Functional In Vivo Epidermal Stem Cell Assay,” Co-Author, Journal of Investigative Dermatology (August 2002)
  • “Stem Cell Frequency In Murine Epidermis Is 1 in 26,000: A Novel In Vivo Functional Assay For Epidermal Stem Cells,” Co-Author, American Journal of Cell Biology (2002)

  • Scout Master, Pack 734 (2019-2021)
  • Carmel Creek Elementary, Room Mom (2018-2021)

  • Freenome Holdings Inc., General Counsel
  • GenMark Diagnostics, Inc., Associate General Counsel
  • ViaCyte, Inc., Patent Attorney
  • Baker & McKenzie LLP, Associate
  • Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Associate
  • California Supreme Court, Judicial Extern to Honorable Janice Brown

  • California
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office

  • United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit