Amicus Effort Backs Tech and Life Sciences Innovators in U.S. Supreme Court Case

1 minute read | June.25.2024

In a case of importance to the tech and life science sectors, an Orrick team has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up and reverse a Federal Circuit decision with broad ramifications for the patent system.
The brief was filed in In re Cellect on behalf of Sonos, RingCentral, NAGRA Kudeleski Group and Capstan Therapeutics. The broad cross-section of industries told the Supreme Court they have an important stake in the outcome because of the need for a “well-run, predictable patent system that fairly rewards investments in innovation.”
The brief argues that the Federal Circuit’s decision on statutory patent term guarantees for Patent Office delays has caused upheaval in the patent system, potentially costing biopharma and tech innovators billions in lost patent term. The brief warns that there is an urgency for the Supreme Court to act, stating, “The ruling impacts the investments (many of which will be years in the making) that companies like the amici are making now.”

The Orrick team on the amicus effort is led by partners Mel Bostwick, Clem Roberts, and Irena Royzman, and associate Jingyuan Luo.

Read the brief

Related Lawyers

Mel Bostwick Partner, Supreme Court & Appellate, Intellectual Property

Washington, D.C.

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D:+1 202 339 8483
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Supreme Court & Appellate
Intellectual Property

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Mel Bostwick Partner

Washington, D.C.

Mel’s practice capitalizes on two of her passions: technology and great writing. As an appellate lawyer, she has the opportunity to help companies protect their innovations and their intellectual property. She is adept at translating complex technology and intricate legal issues into a clear and simple presentation that judges of any background can understand. Mel brings these skills to bear in representing clients on appeal to the Federal Circuit and before the Supreme Court, and also in partnering with trial teams to address legal and strategic problems in district court, the ITC, and the PTAB. She also regularly advises technology clients on difficult IP and strategic issues facing their companies.

Mel also has the privilege of representing pro bono clients and is particularly passionate about using her Federal Circuit experience to help veterans in their appeals to the court.

Prior to joining Orrick, Mel was an associate at a litigation boutique in Washington, D.C., where she represented clients in trial and appellate litigation and before the Federal Communications Commission. Mel served as a law clerk to Judge Timothy B. Dyk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Clement Seth Roberts Partner, Intellectual Property, Patents

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5700
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Intellectual Property
Patents
Trade Secrets Litigation
Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution

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Clement Seth Roberts Partner

San Francisco

Clem acts as lead counsel for companies of all sizes across a broad range of industries. In recent years he has lead cases dealing with medical devices, network security, anti-cancer drugs, video games, battery chemistry, consumer electronics, blockchain and other payments systems, streaming video, ticketing systems, telecommunications, and many more.

Clem has an active trial practice. In 2023 alone, Clem acted as lead counsel for teams that won two jury verdicts, three ITC proceedings, and numerous IPRs and dispositive motions.

Clem has been recognized in the Daily Journal’s list of the top 75 IP Litigators in California. In the latest Chambers USA rankings, clients note he is a “very persuasive advocate who knows the law inside out and is able to get to the heart of the issue very quickly.“ Managing Intellectual Property described him as a “highly respected litigator in the California IP market and beyond.” Intellectual Asset Management’s Patent 1000 notes he is a “commercially savvy first-chair trial lawyer,” a “tenacious, pragmatic litigator who excels at finding innovative solutions,” “one of the best writers anywhere” and a “fantastic negotiator.”

Current clients include Sonos, Zynga, Plexxicon, Abbott, Altice, Roblox, Discord, HCW, HVMN, Go1, ConsenSys, MoonActive, Checkpoint, RingCentral, and Cellink.

Clem serves on the Orrick’s Management Committee and is former head of the firm’s 100-lawyer IP practice.

Clem also maintains an active pro-bono practice focused on environmental impact litigation. He lives in Marin and spends his free time cycling around Mt. Tam.

Irena Royzman, Ph.D. Partner, Intellectual Property, Life Sciences

New York

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D:+1 212 506 3518
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Intellectual Property
Life Sciences
Patents

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Irena Royzman, Ph.D. Partner

New York

With a Ph.D. in biology from MIT and the Whitehead Institute, where she was a NSF fellow, Irena represents plaintiffs and defendants in their most complex pharmaceutical and biotech patent cases. Over the last 20 years, pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovators have relied on Irena again and again for cases involving small molecules, biologics, recombinant DNA technology, gene therapy, gene editing, manufacturing processes, formulations and drug-eluting medical devices, including numerous multi-billion dollar cases involving many of the world’s best-selling drugs.

Irena has significant experience in litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), as well as inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, license disputes and matters with parallel ex-U.S. litigation and proceedings in foreign patent offices. Irena also helps life sciences companies and organizations develop the law in the most important cases for the biopharma industry. She has been principal counsel on numerous amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit in key biopharma cases.

For plaintiffs, Irena has successfully defended generic challenges to patents protecting blockbuster medical therapies, including multi-billion dollar cancer, antiviral and anti-psychotic drugs. She has also represented an innovator in some of the first cases under the BPCIA, including the first involving an antibody. For defendants, she defeated a $530 million claim of patent infringement of a competitor’s biotech patent, obtaining dismissal of all claims and discovery sanctions against the patent owner. In another high-stakes case, she obtained summary judgment of noninfringement and exclusion of plaintiff’s experts under Daubert as well as a full award of attorneys’ fees.

A registered patent attorney, Irena also handles inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. For patent owners, she has obtained denial of IPR for patents protecting blockbuster drugs and has leveraged IPR for defendants to obtain freedom to operate.

Irena also coordinates U.S. proceedings with parallel ex-U.S. litigation and proceedings in foreign patent offices, recently obtaining freedom to operate for a biotech innovator’s gene therapy. She provides strategic counseling in biologics and pharmaceuticals and advises clients on their IP portfolios and transactions. Irena also represents clients in high-stakes license disputes involving biotech patents, and, in a dispute concerning the use of a recombinant protein as an enzyme replacement therapy, obtained one of the largest settlement awards over the life of the contract.

Chambers USA has recognized Irena as a leading lawyer in intellectual property, where clients have described her as “excellent,” “knowledgeable, aggressive” and “an incredibly smart lawyer.” Benchmark Litigation named her one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” for the last six years and a litigation star in intellectual property in New York. Irena was also named to the Crain’s New York Business 2021 list of Notable Women in Law.

Irena writes and lectures widely on biopharma patent issues and biosimilar litigation. Irena also is frequently quoted on patent-related issues, including in the Washington Post, Financial Times, Nature Biotechnology and Pink Sheet.