“TRIPS” Down Memory Lane: An Interview with Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson is an in-house attorney at Kemin Industries. She handles the everyday business concerns regarding intellectual property (IP), international business, and contracting. Prior to working at Kemin Industries, Sarah learned successful litigation strategies as an associate attorney at Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff.

She graduated from Cornell College in Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Religion before attending Loyola University Chicago School of Law. While at Loyola, she competed on the National Health Law Moot Court Team and the Appellate Lawyers Association Moot Court Team. She wrote for the Annals of Health Law and Journal of Regulatory Compliance. Sarah externed at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and clerked for the Honorable Judge Neil Hartigan in the Court of Claims. She was also a research assistant for Professor Cynthia Ho, who mentored Sarah during her time at Loyola after connecting during a prospective student tour. Sarah then went onto take all of Professor Ho’s IP courses in addition to completing the Advocacy and Health Law certificates. She was also a member of IP Bytes.

We recently spoke about her background, her Loyola experiences, and how IP has influenced her legal career.

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In the Market for Affordable Medicines

Patents and pandemics.  At first, these two things might not seem too related.  Beyond patenting useful things for a pandemic – personal protective equipment, medicines, etc. – what do they have to do with one another?  Well, it turns out that the COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on how to make patented medicines affordable.

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pancakes

Patents and Pancakes

I had a fairly clear idea when I came to Loyola University Chicago School of Law that I wanted to focus on patent law. Having a science background, it seemed like a natural fit given the intersection between patent law and science. However, my interests weren’t solidified until I read patent cases assessing the validity of a patented pancake recipe. You’ll have to learn a little bit about my childhood to understand why those interests solidified though. 

A consistent motivating force throughout my life has been figuring out how things worked. As a kid, whenever I got bored with a toy, I would sneak tools from my dad’s toolbox and take it apart. I wanted to get a better understanding of how the toy worked. Knowing that I’d get a lecture on why I shouldn’t break my toys, I’d try to put them back together—often unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, the hunt for that forbidden knowledge was worth the lecture and one less toy. I needed to figure out how it worked, no matter the consequences.

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