Providing comprehensive solutions for the acquisition, enforcement and protection of IP.

Advising life sciences innovators, investors and industry leaders on complex transactions, legal issues and business challenges.

A global team handling highly complex and sensitive matters in all aspects of litigation.

Combining our trial and appellate strengths allows us to shape litigation strategy from the outset to maximize the likelihood of ultimate success.

Clients trust us to protect their most important intellectual property matters.

We leverage technical knowledge, business acumen and legal experience to structure, prepare and negotiate innovative and effective technology-related agreements.

For companies in the life sciences sphere, licensing intellectual property and establishing strategic alliances are critical. WilmerHale’s experienced licensing lawyers shepherd biotech, pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical device clients of all sizes through the complex transactions that make their businesses possible, including a broad range of licensing, collaboration, strategic alliance and joint venture agreements. Our attorneys also excel at brokering manufacturing and supply agreements, contract research and development agreements, distribution and commercialization services agreements, and material transfer and confidentiality agreements. They also frequently represent life sciences clients as they license patents—often the foundations of their companies—from, and sponsor research at, leading academic institutions across the United States and Europe. Backed not only by their own experience but also the deep well of knowledge possessed by the firm’s patent, tax, antitrust and EU competition lawyers, our transactional attorneys are ready to handle even the most multifaceted matters. Our team helps clients protect their innovations, forge strategic alliances, and successfully navigate a complex, dynamic industry.

Clients in need of copyright and trademark protection depend on our skilled litigators and IP lawyers with a proven record of success. Technology companies bring us cutting-edge and novel copyright protection matters centered on the dissemination and transmission of copyrighted works and content. Clients in the entertainment industry rely on our guidance on critical issues surrounding copyright protection for movies, television, music and other art forms, and we also work with fashion and consumer goods companies on protecting and enforcing their copyrights. 

Clients seek our help with the strategic selection, registration, management, enforcement and defense of trademark, trade dress and domain name rights—often their most valuable assets. Local and global brands rely on us to protect them from infringement and dilution by guarding their assets from competitors who aim to weaken their names. We also offer strategies to minimize risk of liability for trademark infringement and have successfully defended many companies in litigation against parties seeking to overreach with allegations of trademark or trade dress infringement, domain name misuse or cybersquatting. We consider not only potential infringement of third-party rights, but also whether a potential name or trademark can be registered and provide clients with the desired exclusivity and global market impact. Clients looking to prevent third-party misappropriation of trademarks and names depend on us to oppose registrations and seek cancellations of existing registrations, and to defend their trademarks in proceedings in the US Patent and Trademark Office, under the Madrid Protocol and before national and regional patent and trademark offices.

Intellectual Property Litigation

Intellectual Property Litigation

We advise clients on the smartest, most cost-effective ways to challenge or defend issued patents.

By patenting their innovations, our clients increase the value of their intellectual property and enhance their ability to compete in the marketplace. We work with laboratory and research teams and R&D and product development groups to determine whether, when and where it is in our clients’ business and technical interests to seek patent protection. And we don’t just file patent applications. Drawing on our experience with patent litigation, corporate financings and technology transactions, we implement IP strategies that conserve resources, add measurable value and give our clients a cost-effective and commercially practical competitive edge.

We help clients obtain more than 750 US and foreign patents each year, covering innovations that span the technological spectrum, including aerospace, biochemistry, biotechnology, business methods, chemistry, computer science, fuel cells, genetics, high-speed data communication, integrated circuits, materials science, medical devices, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor devices and processes, and software.

We also prepare and prosecute patent applications internationally under the Patent Cooperative Treaty and by working with a network of seasoned patent lawyers around the world. Our experience extends to appeals, interferences and opposition proceedings within the US Patent and Trademark Office, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the European Patent Office.

Clients turn to us for their highest-stakes trade secret disputes.

Intellectual Property Litigation

WilmerHale’s corporate lawyers have a long history of experience with cross-border deals involving mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and capital markets, venture capital, joint ventures and other transactions.