Claire Laporte

Claire Laporte is Head of Intellectual Property at Ginkgo Bioworks. She provides strategic oversight of Ginkgo's patent portfolio, trade secrets, and other intellectual property while supporting Ginkgo's business objectives in connection with IP matters.

Before joining Ginkgo, Claire served the life science industry in private practice at Foley Hoag LLP. During her time at Foley Hoag, Claire handled many patent and trade secret cases relating to a broad range of life science technologies. She also leveraged her litigation experience to represent clients in mergers, acquisitions, licenses, collaborations, and other matters.

Representative litigation cases include a trial in which Claire obtained a verdict of willful infringement against a major medical device company and another in which Claire convinced a tribunal to invalidate two biotechnology patents in a case concerning genetically modified E. coli for production of lysine. Claire also handled appellate matters relating to intellectual property.

During her time at Foley Hoag, Claire maintained an extensive pro bono practice, focusing on civil rights and domestic violence cases. Most recently, Claire served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs in a case challenging President Trump's ban on military service by transgender people.

Claire serves on several non-profit boards, including Cambridge Health Alliance and the Handel & Haydn Society.