North America - United States • Intellectual property

Williams & Connolly LLP

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The intellectual property group at Williams & Connolly LLP is praised as ‘exceptional in its creativity and focus on accomplishing client goals' and has deep technical knowledge and extensive experience in disputes relating to patent infringement. Based in Washington DC, the team represents clients in a wide range of industries, and is particularly experienced in the life sciences sector, having acted on behalf of companies such Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products. The firm’s patent litigation practice is co-chaired by David Berl, who specializes in the biotech, pharmaceutical and energy fields, and Jessamyn Berniker, who acts for clients from a wide range of industries in patent and licensing disputes. The group also includes Thomas Selby, who focuses on patent and licensing litigation, Stanley Fisher, who specializes in patent infringement claims affecting tech companies, and experienced litigator Dov Grossman who primarily acts on behalf of large pharma clients . Elise M. Baumgarten and Shaun P. Mahaffy are also key contacts.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The patent litigation team at Williams and Connolly is exceptional in its creativity and focus on accomplishing client goals.’

Key clients

  • Pfizer Inc.
  • AstraZeneca
  • Bayer AG
  • Merck Sharp & Dohme
  • Arbutus Biopharma Corp.
  • Genevant Sciences
  • Bayer CropScience
  • Monsanto Company
  • Hoffman La-Roche Inc.
  • Novartis
  • Samsung Electronics Co.
  • Google
  • Gentex Corporation
  • BeiGene USA, Inc.

Work highlights

  • Acted for plaintiffs Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products and Norton (Waterford) Ltd. in ANDA litigation concerning Plaintiffs’ Qvar®, an inhalant product approved for the treatment of asthma.
  • Represented Pfizer in patent infringement litigation filed by Moderna alleging that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine infringes Moderna’s patents covering its mRNA platform.
  • Represented AstraZeneca in Hatch-Waxman litigation regarding its flagship asthma product Symbicort, resulting in a claim construction victory in the last phase after nearly five years.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

David Berl, Jessamyn Berniker

Other key lawyers

Thomas Selby, Stanley Fisher, Dov Grossman, Elise M. Baumgarten, Shaun P. Mahaffy