Houston, TX (March 17,2010)- Intellectual Property law firm Novak Druce + Quigg LLP has announced the addition of five attorneys, including four Ph.D.s.  The arrival of the attorneys, William P. Ramey III, Nicholas A. Zachariades Ph.D., Melissa Schwaller, Ph.D., Matthew T. Browning Ph.D. and Eduardo J. Quiñones Ph.D., expand the Firm's life science practice and provide the Firm additional electrical, software and mechanical capabilities.

"The addition of these five attorneys is a tremendous gain for Novak Druce and our clients," said Greg Novak, CEO and Managing Partner of Novak Druce + Quigg. "We are adding top talent in our Houston and West Palm Beach offices that will significantly enhance both our life sciences practice and our electrical and mechanical capabilities.  We are delighted to welcome these attorneys to Novak Druce."
 
These attorneys join one month after the announcement that prominent trademark attorney Katy Basile joined Novak Druce's San Francisco office.

Dr. Zachariades and Dr. Quiñones are coming to Novak Druce from Darby and Darby PC and will work out of the Firm's West Palm Beach, FL office as a Partner and Senior Associate, respectively. 
 
Dr. Nicholas Zachariades
Nicholas A. Zachariades Ph.D. (Partner, West Palm Beach): Dr. Zachariades focuses his practice in patent opinion counseling and patent procurement in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields and has written and prosecuted patent applications in both the United States and abroad in cutting edge technologies in numerous fields. Dr. Zachariades holds a J.D. from the New England School of Law. He earned a Ph.D. in cellular immunology from Emory University and a B.A. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Eduardo Quinones
Eduardo J. Quiñones Ph.D. (Senior Associate, West Palm Beach): Dr. Quiñones focuses his practice on patent procurement in a variety of technologies including software, electrical and mechanical inventions.  His specific areas of expertise include digital and analog electronic circuits and all aspects of semiconductor processing.  Dr. Quiñones holds a J.D. from the University of Florida.  He earned a Ph.D. and a M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Quiñones, a National Science Foundation Fellow, was also named a Chancellor's Scholar while at Vanderbilt University, where he earned undergraduate degrees in both computer science and electrical engineering.

Mr. Ramey, Dr. Browning and Dr. Schwaller will reside in Novak Druce's Houston office.  Mr. Ramey comes from Winstead PC and will work as a Partner.  Dr. Browning comes to Novak Druce from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at will work as a Senior Associate.  Dr. Schwaller joins from Howrey LLP and will work as a Senior Associate.
 
William P. Ramey III
William P. Ramey III (Partner, Houston):  William (Bill) Ramey's practice concentrates obtaining, enforcing and licensing intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. He also has extensive technical and patent prosecution/preparation experience. Mr. Ramey has been involved in many patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright disputes. He has prepared numerous opinions on intellectual property rights regarding validity, infringement and freedom to operate, and he has written more than 150 patents and prosecuted many more. He earned a J.D. from South Texas College of Law and a B.S. in chemistry from Texas A&M University.