Antitrust | Capital Markets | Finance | Intellectual Property | Litigation/International Arbitration | Mergers & Acquisitions

Intellectual Property

Our Intellectual Property Group is a proven leader in advising healthcare industry clients on intellectual property litigations, infringement and validity analyses and opinions, licensing, portfolio development, due diligence and intellectual property issues arising in corporate and financial transactions. Our IP attorneys have broad range and extensive background in life sciences, including biotechnology, drug discovery, pharmaceuticals, and medical instruments and devices. We have represented Incyte in a number of patent infringement suits involving gene expression methods and databases. We have also represented a number of other healthcare industry companies in intellectual property litigation involving trademark infringement, unfair competition, and distribution and joint development contract issues. The firm has also provided IP advice to entities including aaiPharma, Applera, BioSystems International, Ciphergen, Clontech, Connetics, Future Medical Systems, GE Healthcare, Intel Digital Health, Lipid Sciences, and many of its numerous investment banking clients.

Representative Intellectual Property Experience

Litigations

• Aventis in a patent infringement suit involving synthetic Taxol.
• Boston Scientific in patent litigation against Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Guidant involving balloon angioplasty catheters and stent delivery systems.
• Elan Pharmaceuticals in a breach of contract action related to a “BACE inhibitor” collaboration.
• Incyte Corporation (formerly Incyte Genomics) in patent infringement actions against Affymetrix, Arcturus Engineering, Gene Logic, and Invitrogen involving RNA amplification, gene expression analysis, and reverse transcriptase technologies.
• Incyte Corporation in an arbitrated breach of contract action under a technology license and development agreement related to a toxicogenomics database.
• The Laryngeal Mask Company in a patent infringement action against Ambu related to artificial airway devices.
• The Laryngeal Mask Company Ltd., in various intellectual property ownership, licensing, and infringement matters arising from its worldwide surgical mask business.
• mtm laboratories in a breach of contract dispute under a technology license and development agreement related to in vitro cell diagnostics.
• Orthofix Group in intellectual property litigation involving trademark infringement, unfair competition, and distribution contract issues against former distributor and corporate parents.
• Pfizer Inc. in patent litigation brought by Chiron Corporation involving hepatitis C virus protease patents.
• River Medical, Inc. in a trade secret misappropriation action involving medical devices.

Transactions

• Active Health Management, Inc., a leading provider of vital evidence-based medical management and data analytics products, in its acquisition by Aetna, Inc.
• Banc of America Securities LLC as underwriter to the initial public offering of QuatRx Pharmaceuticals Company.
• Boston Scientific in its acquisition of Guidant Corporation and its sale of Guidant's vascular business to Abbott Laboratories.
• Citigroup Global Markets in connection with the convertible subordinated notes offering for Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
• Credit Suisse Ltd. As underwriters’ counsel in connection with the initial public offering of Bioxell.
• Gambro AB in connection with a series of distribution and promotion agreements with Baxter Healthcare.
• Merrill Lynch & Co. and other initial purchasers in the $5 billion offering of two series of convertible senior notes by Amgen.
• Merrill Lynch & Co. as underwriter to the initial public offering of NxStage Medical, Inc., a leading medical device manufacturer focusing on end-stage renal disease and kidney failure.
• Merrill Lynch & Co. in the securities offering of New River Pharmaceuticals.
• Novartis AG in connection with the sale of its Nutrition & Santé business to ABN AMRO Capital France.
• Novartis AG in its acquisition of the global adult medical nutritional business of Mead Johnson & Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
• Quest Diagnostics, Inc. in its merger with LabOne, Inc.
• sanofi-aventis on the sale of its rights to Exubera®, an inhaled human insulin, to Pfizer.
• Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Siemens AG, in its tender offer for the outstanding shares and subsequent acquisition of the remaining shares of CTI Molecular Imaging, Inc.
• Symphony Capital Partners LLC and Symphony Dynamo Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in a structured equity transaction with Dynavax Technologies Corp., a company specializing in immunostimulatory nucleotide sequences, to fund the clinical development of certain compounds of Dynavax.
• Symphony Capital Partners LLC and Symphony GenIsis Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in a structured equity transaction with Isis Pharmaceuticals, a company specializing in RNA therapeutics, to fund the clinical development of certain compounds of Isis.
• Symphony Capital Partners, L.P. and Symphony Evolution Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in a structured equity transaction with Exelixis, Inc., a genomics-based drug discovery company, to fund the clinical development of certain compounds of Exelixis.
• UBS Investment Bank as underwriter to the convertible debt offering of OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• US Bancorp Piper Jaffray in connection with the securities offering of Xoma Ltd.
• Wockhardt Limited, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, in its acquisition of Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leading liquid generic and speciality dermatology company in the United States.