LMG Life Sciences has named Fish & Richardson the 2018 General Patent Litigation Firm of the Year and the Intellectual Property Firm of the Year. LMG Life Sciences also selected Fish’s victory for Gilead in Idenix Pharmaceuticals et al. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc. as the Patent Impact Case of the Year. This is the second year in a row that LMG Life Sciences has recognized Fish as the General Patent Litigation Firm of the Year.
Fish’s work on the Patent Impact Case of the Year has been hailed as one of the biggest litigation comebacks of all time. In Idenix Pharmaceuticals LLC et al v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., the firm won a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) that nullified a $2.5 billion jury verdict against client Gilead.
Jonathan Singer, a principal in Fish’s San Diego office, was named the General Patent Litigator of the Year – California. Singer, who heads the firm’s Life Sciences Litigation Practice, co-led the Idenix v. Gilead JMOL strategy and argued the winning JMOL enablement motion. The case involved Gilead’s blockbuster drugs Sovaldi® and Harvoni®, which cure hepatitis C and are considered by many to be among the greatest medical innovations of our lifetimes. The Fish team proved that Idenix’s patent was invalid due to lack of enablement, with the judge calling Fish’s enablement evidence “devastating” to Idenix.
Fish principal Dorothy Whelan of the firm’s Twin Cities office also won an individual award for her work over the past year and was named the Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year.
Whelan, who co-chairs the Post-Grant Practice at Fish, won three much-heralded inter partes reviews (IPRs) for Coherus BioSciences in 2017 that invalidated three patents covering competitor AbbVie’s blockbuster biologic drug Humira®. These were the first-ever IPR decisions that invalidated patents for AbbVie’s biologic, which was the highest-selling drug in 2016 with $16 billion in global sales.
Fish’s Life Sciences group works with large and small companies, along with academic and research institutions, to protect their most valuable innovations. Clients choose Fish because of the technical and scientific expertise of its internationally recognized attorneys. The firm offers biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients a wide range of services, including patent portfolio planning, strategic advice, opinions, and prosecution; litigation services, including representing branded companies in Hatch-Waxman cases; representation in post-grant proceedings including interpartes reviews before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; FDA expertise; and counsel on licensing and other transactions.
LMG Life Sciences is a guide to leading North American law firms and lawyers specializing in the life sciences industry.
Fish & Richardson, a premier global intellectual property law firm, is sought-after and trusted by the world’s most innovative brands and influential technology leaders. Fish offers litigation, prosecution and counseling services for patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as trade secret counseling and litigation services. Our deep bench of attorneys with first-chair trial experience in every technology makes us the go-to firm for the most technically complex cases. We have an established reputation as a top-tier firm for patent portfolio planning, strategy and prosecution, as well as post-grant proceedings at the PTAB. Established in 1878, and now with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S. and Europe, our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences and perspectives. For more information, visit fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson.