Life Sciences — Intellectual Property

From prosecution and litigation to licensing, transactions, and portfolio management, Crowell & Moring’s 100+ IP lawyers and scientific professionals guide clients through the complexities of IP issues to maximize the value of intellectual property assets and achieve business objectives. Covering the full spectrum of life sciences disciplines with degrees in biomedical engineering, inorganic and organic chemistry, immunology, and epidemiology, just to name a few, our patent attorneys and agents speak the language of life sciences innovation. Many have worked in industry, providing hands-on experience and a practical understanding of business issues. Our client-side perspective helps us anticipate obstacles, spot opportunities, and develop strategies to increase portfolio value. 

Core Capabilities 

Our practice has attracted clients ranking from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies whose products lead the way in technological innovation across virtually every sector of the economy. We help clients protect, enforce, and monetize their assets through clearance, registration, licensing, and litigation. We serve our clients in six main areas: 

• IP Litigation. Enforcing and defending our clients’ intellectual property rights in patent litigation, pharmaceutical and biologics litigation, post-grant proceedings, trademark litigation, copyright litigation, and U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Section 337 proceedings. Our assertive and creative litigators are adept at handling both offensive and defensive cases. 
• Trade Secrets. Our interdisciplinary team of trade secret lawyers has a depth of experience that includes litigation, employment, antitrust, white collar, and intellectual property in the U.S. and abroad. They routinely guide businesses through all aspects of the trade secrets life cycle, from development through protection and enforcement. 
• IP Strategy, Prosecution, and Portfolio Management. We augment the value of our clients’ innovations—involving a broad range of technologies—through design protection, patent prosecution, and portfolio management for trademarks, patents, and copyrights. We work in tandem with our IP litigation team, and we regularly monitor the regulatory and judicial landscape for new developments in the prosecution and protection of creative assets. 
• Trademark Counseling, Brand Protection, and Litigation. Through our management of global portfolios and review of trademarks for clearance and prosecution purposes, Crowell’s international team has a solid understanding of how best to develop, audit, and maintain robust brand protection programs and strategies in the life sciences sector.  We represent medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers in all manner of trademark matters, including registration, transactions, monetization, protection, and enforcement. We also counsel pharmaceutical clients on whether trademarks may present advertising claims or claims otherwise susceptible to scrutiny by the FDA or FTC. 
• IP Licensing, Transactions, and Diligence. We advise on all aspects of IP transactions, including due diligence, on protection, enforcement, and transfer of IP rights. We provide transactional guidance on development agreements, outsourcing, licensing of patent/trademark/copyright rights, data rights and data protection, strategic alliances and joint development, manufacturing, marketing, resale and distribution, and research and development, and collaborative research. 
• Global IP Law. We leverage the strong credentials of our IP practitioners and contacts in the United States, Europe, and Asia to provide representation on European IP law, international patent, international trademark, and Section 337 issues.